


where love light beams

by pastelpink



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Pamela Burkhart, Mentions of Randy Pearson, Mentions of Samantha Hyde
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-08-24 11:21:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8370286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelpink/pseuds/pastelpink
Summary: There are twelve days left before Christmas, and the gang decides to do Secret Santa. Set after Season 8.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys! This is my very first jackie and Hyde fic. Or well, piece of writing in a whole year, honestly. It's been awhile since I've had any inspiration, I didn't know what to write on until I watched That 70's show, and completely fell inlove with Jackie and Hyde's relationship. 
> 
> So this is for everyone who thinks that Jackie and Hyde should have ended up together, and wished that Eric never left. I hope you guys like it! I wanted to make this a 12 parter, so. Enjoy!

**Day 1 - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas**

December 1980

Point Place

Forman’s Basement

 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

 At least, thats what the song says. Christmas means bright nights and trees decorated in pretty lights. It also somehow makes hot chocolate even more delicious— like it came with a few pumps of christmas spirit or something. Christmas, of course , also meant presents. And if there’s anything Jacquelyn Burkhart loved more than unicorns, it’s getting unicorns and other pretty and shiny things for presents.

Jackie was sat down the couch at the Forman’s basement like she would have any other day. Today, Fez was convincing her, Hyde and Kelso to sing Christmas carols with him so they could do something new for Christmas this year. Jackie had just chuckled.

“There is no way in hell I’m gonna take part in this crap.” Hyde grunted.

 “But it is Christmas, Hyde! We are all supposed to be spreading cheer and joy and candy and love to people.” Fez reasoned out.

“Fez, it may be news to you but, “ Hyde sat straight and clasped his hands together “I do not give cheer, joy, candy or love to people. Or to anyone.”

“That’s right,” Jackie said “He only gives them to stupid blonde whores and drunkenly gets married to them after, like a minute.”

“BURN!” Kelso screeched as he pointed to Hyde’s face. He turned to Jackie chuckling, and flashed her an open-mouthed smile “That was a good burn, Jackie.”

 “Shut up, Kelso.” Hyde rolled his eyes and frogged him.

 "Ow!” Kelso yelped, massaging his arm. “Wha- it was a good burn!”

 Jackie smiled and crossed her arms. _Ha,_ she thought. _Take that, Hyde!_

 “Whatever.” Hyde muttered.

 Fez went back to convincing everyone in the room about his plans, and Jackie watched her friends bicker with an amused expression on her face.

 The basement door opened as Donna and Eric stepped inside.

 "Eric, my friend, you are just in time!” Fez smiled triumphantly.

 “Hey, what’s going on?” Donna looked at Eric questioningly before reverting her gaze to Fez.

 “Donna, Eric.” Fez grinned “I, Fez, am inviting everyone to go carol singing to bring love and cheer to other people!”

 “Wait, what?”

 “I don’t know, Donna, it doesn’t sound so bad.” Eric replied as he slowly nodded his head in consideration.

 “Jesus, Forman.” Hyde clicked his tongue and started massaging his temples.

 “What? All I’m saying is that it could be fun!”

 Donna and Jackie flashed each other a look and chuckled to themselves.

 “Hold up,” Kelso raised his hand “Jackie’s not singing right, cause-“

 “Kelso!”

 “See, if Luke Skywalker was here, I don’t think he’d be opposed to singing a few christmas songs during christmas season!”

 “Forman, can you shut up about that fruit for once-“

 “Ai, I do not like this!”

 “I’d have you know, Michael, that I-“

 “LUKE SKYWALKER IS NOT -“

A sudden loud crash made everyone stop arguing and look towards the direction the sound had come from.

 Red Forman stood with an empty box on his hands that was upside down. On his feet were a bunch of screws and other things that could be found in the garage.

 “That’s more like it!” Red smiled wickedly “Now everyone quit being a pain in the ass before you find my foot up one of yours!”

 The gang watched as Red climbed back up the stairs.

 Eric opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Donna covering his mouth with her hand.

 “We are not singing, Eric.”

 “Fine.” Fez and Eric huffed indignantly.

~

 Honestly, Jackie thinks that they do nothing together but sit and stare at the television screen. What are holidays for, eh?

 “Man, there’s nothing to do in Point Place.” Kelso scratched his head in annoyance. “We need something new to do. And I don’t mean singing Christmas carols before anyone gets an idea”

 Kelso looked pointedly at Fez and Eric, and Donna snorted in amusement.

 “Kelso, sitting around all day and watching TV is the way to celebrate christmas. Stop ruining traditions, man,” Hyde rolled his eyes.

 That was _so_ typical of him, Jackie thought, and resisted to urge to say snap at him. She still didn’t get why she was almost always so annoyed of him. Could be because he was such an ass.

 “Oh, I know!” Donna exclaimed as she looked around the group. “Let’s do Secret Santa!”

 “Hey, that’s a good idea, Donna!” Kelso gave her a pat on the back.

Jackie gulped. She didn’t like it when she wasn’t in control of things. Like that one crazy time she’d let her mother buy what Jackie was going to wear for one of the parties they had to attend together as a family. Her mother had ended up buying her something too provocative— not very much like Jackie, more of Pamela, actually. She’d been uncomfortable the whole night, and she had promised herself never to let that happen again.

 “What’s Secret Santa?”Fez asked with a curious expression on his face.

 “Well, we all write our names down in a piece of paper, toss it in a hat or something, and then we draw names on it. Whoever we pick is the person we give a gift to.” Donna explained.

 “Oooh, sounds interesting. Count me in!” Fez giggled in enthusiasm.

 “And,” Eric continued “We don’t have to give anyone else gifts apart from the person we’re gonna draw form the hat!”

 “Yeah, this is a great opportunity to save money” Kelso agreed.

 “You guys really don’t get it, do you?” Hyde looked at them in disbelief“Christmas is just the government’s ploy to get everyone to spend their money. It’s all a conspiracy!”

 “Oh, shut up, Hyde.” Jackie retorted. “Stop eating christmas!”

 For a second, Jackie thinks she saw Hyde flinch at the mention of his name. Jackie thought it was because she started calling him Hyde again, and she supposed that it still bothered him. Why? She still yet has to figure out, but she can’t help but feel guilty every time she calls him Hyde.

 The slight frown on his face was gone as soon as it had appeared on Hyde’s face. “Get bent, Jackie.”

 “Okay, calm down, you guys. It’s either this or going carol singing with Fez, so.” There was honestly no use fighting Donna anymore. Jackie recognised a lost fight when she saw one. She groaned in defeat and crossed her arms.

 “Great!” Eric clasped his hands together. “We’ll do it tomorrow.”

~

Jackie plopped down the end of the bed in her pyjamas, ready to write in her journal.

 The days have passed by quickly in Point Place after the last New Year’s. Jackie was glad of it too. The past year was her worst year ever so far, and she didn’t think anything would top it off anytime soon. Things went back to the way it was before everything went to shit. It was Sam’s fault— or that was what Jackie had told herself. It had been extremely awkward and frustrating having her around, seeing Sam sit on _her_ spot— Hyde’s lap, day after day, and seeing how much Donna and Sam got along with each other more than her and Donna ever did.

  _Dear Journal,_ she began writing.

 It was weird and it felt forced, being there and trying to act like everything was okay. Hyde had blamed the weirdness to Fez and Jackie being together. In all honesty, she could see where he would get that. It didn’t last anyway. A few months after they started dating, Fez had called things off. He said that he didn’t want to hold Jackie down, because she wasn’t happy and neither was he. They agreed, and Jackie was relieved that there weren’t any awkwardness between her and Fez despite being together for a few months.

_Things are okay right now._

She remembered frowning deeply when she had noticed Randy in Eric’s seat when she walked in the basement. That was Eric’s. It was just the way things were, even if Eric had been in Africa. Plus, everyone was acting weird. Jackie didn’t know if she had been one of them— cold, awkward, and not meeting anyone’s eye. Everyone suddenly didn’t know how to act around each other. Jackie hated it. It was like everyone was hanging out for the sake of it. Snarky remarks and teasing comments were thrown around a lot to cover up the fact that things just weren’t the same anymore— had not been for the past few months. Jackie guessed that everyone felt a little lost without Eric. 

It had went on that way for a few more weeks, until Eric came home eventually. He had flashed everyone a sheepish, nervous smile and a shrug of his shoulders, as if he was unsure of what to do. The whole group had been speechless, not a sound coming out of any of their mouths. Donna was the one who had broken the silence, immediately running to hug Eric, and everything else had followed.

  _Well, as okay as it’s gonna be for awhile, I think._

 Randy had entered the basement one day and realised that were no seat for him. He looked around and realised that he didn’t recognize those six people in the Forman’s basement. The atmosphere had felt different- lighter, comfortable. He stopped coming over at some point, she didn’t notice when exactly.

 Jackie remembered that day clearly because it had been when she had let herself glance at Hyde, and they had shared a small and quiet smile. It was the first time in a long time she felt that everything was going to be okay.

 Jackie let out an exasperated sigh. She frowned as she stared down the page she was writing on, scratched everything she had written down so far, and threw her journal across the room.

She was Jackie Burkhart and her life was perfect, goddammit!

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 2 - White Christmas**

 

She finally understood what everyone else were saying about how people weren’t supposed to be awake at “ungodly hours” of the day. It was 5am, and Jackie would like to think that this was an ungodly hour as she looked at herself in the mirror because her hair looked like Satan sent his minions to mess it up.

She got up and looked out the window, instantly feeling cheerful as she saw that the ground was covered in snow. That meant she could wear her favourite sweater!

Jackie showered quickly, excited to start the day. She decided that she was gonna start writing down her Christmas wish list so she could place it on her father’s desk before she leaves the house.

She opened her drawer to get one of her lazy-day shirts seeing as she wasn’t leaving the house any time soon. She stuck her hand in and grabbed the first item of clothing her hand could reach. And, of course, fate decided to have a laugh because in her hand was Hyde’s old Zeppellin shirt.

Jackie stared at the shirt in her hands. She didn’t like wearing it in the mornings when she was fully conscious of her decisions. She would let herself wear the shirts sometimes at night, when she had bad days, or when she was sad. She would tell herself that she didn’t get enough time to choose what to wear to bed, and the shirt just happened to be there. It wasn’t at all because of the fact that she couldn’t talk to Steven anymore, nor was it because talking to Steven was the only thing that made her feel better. It really wasn’t.

No. It was Hyde now. It was Hyde now to her, it should be.

It was silly, she had thought, not calling him Steven anymore. Saying his name alone would make her lips tremble. It held so many emotions, every time she’d call him by that name when they dated (yes, even when she would boss him around). It helped, though. She guessed it was because she could go back to pretending that they both really hate each other.

The shirt had been washed countless of times, but it somehow still smelled like him. She hated that. It made it even harder to pretend. With a defeated sigh, she started to put the shirt on. If Jackie was going to go against her better judgement and wear the shirt anyways, no one had to know.

~

“Is everyone ready?” Donna looked around excitedly, her hands clasped together.

“Oh, are we putting a price limit on this?” Jackie asked “Cause I like getting stuff— especiallyif it’s really shiny.I’m not gonna accept anything that doesn’t at least glisten.”

“Hey, you accepted my cheeseburger wrapped in tinfoil once.” Hyde replied, doubtful.

“That doesn’t count, Hyde.” Jackie rolled her eyes. Was he serious? “You have a lot of nerve bringing that up after you screwed our relationship over.”

“Me?” Hyde said incredulously “I’m not the one fooling around with Kelso here-“

Jackie was about to snap at Hyde when Kelso got in the middle of them, with both of his hands up, “Alright, enough, enough. Now, I know you both know that my hunkalicious bod has been a big bump in the road in your past, creepy relationship, but it’s over now, and you two have to knock it off.”

“Uh, Kelso’s right.” Donna said slowly with her eyebrows furrowed. Jackie scoffed. Sure he was.

“Whatever.” Hyde snorted as he started to stand up “I’m outta here.”

“No, you are not.” Donna raised her eyebrow at him. “We’re drawing names for secret santa now, stop being a baby.”

“Can we just get this over with?” Hyde groaned.

The group started to write their names on a piece of paper and folded it in two halves. Jackie was getting nervous. She hoped she wouldn’t get Hyde, because God knows what she’d give to him if she drew his name from stupid helmet. It was going to be even more awkward between them if that would happen. Plus, he’d probably make fun of whatever it was that Jackie would get him, and she was having none of that.

“So we put it in the helmet and we both pick a paper from it, yes?” Fez asked eagerly, obviously excited to do something new today.

“Yeah, here.” Donna put her paper in the helmet and handed it to Fez. They all each put their names inside the hallow of the helmet. “Eric, you go first.”

“Don’t mind if I do, Donna!” Eric grinned “I know the Force will be with me as I draw a name out-“

“Just draw a freakin’ name, man.” Hyde said impatiently.

“Fine,” Eric huffed. Her friends were so whiny, Jackie thought.

Eric put his hand in the helmet, took a piece of paper and unfolded it. “Huh. Could’ve gotten worse.”

Jackie gulped before putting her own hand in the helmet. _Please don’t let it be Hyde, please don’t let it be Hyde._ She pulled her hand back out and hastily unfolded it.

 _Donna P_ , the paper read. Jackie let out a sigh of relief. Good, Donna she could handle— anyone, actually, just not Hyde.

The rest of the group passed the helmet around. It went from Donna to Hyde, to Fez, and finally, to Kelso.

“Man, this is way too easy!” Kelso exclaimed happily while reading the name from the paper he just drew.

“Does that mean you got Fez, because everyone knows all Fez wants is candy and Playboy magazines.” Fez grinned at him. “I am not saying this to give a hint to whoever has picked me.”

“I’m not telling! That’s not allowed” Kelso said, and looked around for confirmation. “Right?”

“Yes, Kelso. Right. Now, I don’t think there’s gonna be any rules about what gifts to give” Donna looked pointedly at Jackie “Just make sure not to get anything stupid, okay? Oh, and we exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. We’re spending it at Eric’s house right?”

“Donna, I think my mom would want you guys to spend it anywhere else.” Eric snorted “She’ll probably cook for all of us anyway, without asking so. She loves me most, though.”

As if on cue, Kitty Forman entered the basement with a basket full of dirty clothes. “Oh hi, kids!”

“Hello, Mrs. Forman.” Everyone greeted her in unison. Jackie had always taken a fond liking towards Eric’s mom. She remembered seeing how Kitty fussed over Eric and the others the first time she came over. Jackie had felt confused and shocked. Her mom had never been like that towards her, nor had her dad. They were always away for some meeting, or a party, or whatever else a politician and a socialite does.

“What are you guys up to?”

“Oh, we just drew names from the helmet because we’re doing Secret Santa this year.” Fez said explained avidly.

“Well, that sounds like fun! It’s nice to see you kids doing something Christmas-y on Christmas.” Kitty placed the basket on top of the washing machine and looked around the basement with a frown on her face. “What month is it down here, is it not December yet? Where are all the Christmas decorations? Eric?”

Eric squirmed under his mother’s stare, “Uh, well, I don’t know, mom? You’re usually the one who puts the decors up, so I thought we weren’t gonna have any in the basement.”

“Eric,” Kitty gave an exasperated sigh “You’re putting up decorations tomorrow. I will not have a dull looking basement in my house during Christmas season!”

“But, m- _om_.” Eric wailed.

Jackie rolled her eyes and grabbed the opportunity that presented itself on her face, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Forman, I’ll make sure these morons will decorate the basement. We’ll have it looking like Santa’s living room by tomorrow night!”

“Butt out, Jackie, you don’t even live here” Hyde said irritatingly over everyone’s grumbles of protest.

“Why do you keep telling everyone not to participate? Stop being such a Grinch.” Jackie snapped back, trying to mask the hurt in her voice. “Besides, it’s gonna make Mrs. Forman happy, right, Mrs. Forman?”

“Yes, thank you, Jackie.” Kitty smiled, made her way over to where Jackie was seated, gave her a kiss on top of her head, and turned to Hyde “Now, be nice to her, Steven, or I’ll hide your beer stash from you.”

“You wouldn’t.” Hyde’s eyes turned into slits behind his sunglasses.

“Try me.” Kitty laughed while skipping up the stairs.

“Great.” Hyde said coolly, choosing to stay zen. Jackie knew better though, she knew that she was getting in his nerves even though his face remained to look as if he was bored and didn’t give a damn about anything. She had learned that much when she had been with Hyde for awhile.

“Anyway,” Jackie said, paying no attention to what Hyde had just said “We can pick up Christmas decorations for the basement tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Donna, you can come with me.”

“Fine, but we’re not going clothes or shoes shopping, okay?”

“But you need a wardrobe upgrade since you’re not blonde anymore.” Jackie replied. Donna decided to go back to being a redhead before Thanksgiving. Jackie had feigned disgust when she first saw her, because, well, who likes a redhead, right? But secretly, it made her a little bit happy about Donna’s decision. It had felt like everything was slowly falling back into place. Hyde had smirked at her then, she knew that he knew what was going on in her head. Jackie was denying it if Hyde decides to ever bring it up.

Donna rolled her eyes, knowing better than to start an argument with Jackie. Jackie smiled in content. No one can say no to Jackie Burkhart!

“Oh, oh, guys!” Kelso scrambled up to his feet excitedly “I have an announcement to make!”

“Ooh, did you crash that old guy’s backyard again last night?” Fez asked, his full attention on Kelso.

“No,” Kelso said indignantly “Remember how I kept bugging Brooke to spend Christmas with me so I can be with her and Betsy? Well, I was talking to Brooke last night, and guess what?”

Everyone stared at him expectantly, but Kelso was looking back at the group with the same expression in his eyes.

“Gee, what, Kelso?” Eric asked sarcastically.

“She agreed! I knew Brooke couldn’t resist my good looks.” Kelso laughed in delight. Jackie squealed excitedly with a big smile on her face. She missed Betsy. She was a really cute girl, just like her godmother.

“That’s great, Kelso!” Donna exclaimed, genuinely happy for him. “When are they coming over?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, probably.” Kelso replied and pointed to both Jackie and Hyde “You two better get your act together cause you’re taking Betsy out on a date.”

“What?” Jackie said incredulously. She was _not_ taking Betsy anywhere with Hyde. He’ll probably ruin it by being grumpy the whole day.

“I’m not going anywhere with her!” Hyde said, his voice rising a little. He was trying to stay calm but Jackie could tell that he was panicking. It made Jackie feel a little smug to see that she still had that effect on him, but she tried to shrug it off.

“Well, too bad, you have no choice.” Kelso lifted his chin up to the air with his eyebrows slanting up “Because when I made you Betsy’s godparents, taking her out together was part of the deal. I chose you guys for a reason, besides having complete faith in both of you, I also think you’re more fun than Eric and Donna.”

“Hey!” Eric and Donna said in unison.

Jackie smirked. Yeah, that was true. “Fine, I’ll take her out, Kelso, don’t worry she’s gonna have so much fun!”

“I’m going just to prove that I’m better than Forman.” Hyde sighed in resignation.

She raised her eyebrow at him, not believing what he just said. _Sure, Hyde_ , she laughed in her head. It was going to be an interesting day out, and Jackie tried to ignore the hard pounding in her chest as she stuck a tongue out at Hyde. He wasn’t the only one that knew how to be zen. After all, he was the one who had taught Jackie how.

 


	3. Day 3

Early mornings were going to be a thing, then, Jackie thought as she stalked begrudgingly to her bathroom.

She decided that she might as well get up and get ready for the day since she couldn’t go back to sleep. Jackie was going to pick up Donna after she finished getting ready. They were gonna go Christmas decor shopping as promised, and, she figured, if she was going to force Donna to buying a new outfit, she would need all day.

As soon as she got dressed, she drove up to the Forman’s (to park her car, not because she was trying to catch a glimpse of someone), and got off the car. Sure enough,Hyde was by the porch, sitting back on one of the chairs with his legs crossed.

“Hey.” Hyde said casually, giving a small nod in her direction

“‘Morning,” Jackie’s heart started to raise a little as she realised she wasn’t going to getting the silent treatment today, “Isn’t it a little too early for you to be up?”

“I should say the same to you.” Hyde’s lips quirked up a bit to one side. “You’re not grumpy today… not having breakfast here, then?”

She was going to pretend that she didn’t see Hyde almost smile at her, because if she didn’t, she’d be a bigger blabbering mess than she already was becoming. “Yeah, uh, well. I woke up too early today, so.”

Hyde nodded slowly, and looked away. He wasn’t wearing his sunglasses today, and Jackie could see his tired eyes. She knew he only wore them because Hyde thinks he looked too _naked_ without them. He had told Jackie once that he hated it when other people looked him directly in the eye. It made him feel uneasy, Hyde had said, _like they can see right through me._

She started rocking back and forth on her heels. Jackie couldn’t breathe, she rarely gets tongue tied.What was this, high school? She needed to get herself together and she needed to get out of there fast.

“Well,” Jackie pursed her lips “I was, uh, I’m gonna go to Donna’s to pick her up so we can go shopping.”

“Ah, I see that the devil is here to ruin this beautiful… fine, fine morning.” Eric greeted Jackie as he stepped out of the kitchen, and place his mug on top of the ledge. Only noticing Hyde then, he wiggled his finger between Hyde and Jackie and continued,“Wait, I didn’t interrupt you two killing each other, right?”

Jackie huffed and swatted Eric’s hand away, “No, we were just talking.”

“Exactly,” he replied.

“Man, it’s too early to be pissing me off, Forman.” Hyde clicked his tongue, stood up and looked at Jackie “See you later, Jacks.”

With that, Hyde walked away. Both Eric and Jackie’s eyes followed him as he disappeared to the kitchen.

Jackie sighed in frustration as she crossed her arms at “You really had to ruin mine and Hyde’s conversation, didn’t you, you twitchy moron?”

She couldn’t believe this. She and Hyde rarely engaged in conversation unless they were snapping at or burning each other, and as much as Jackie was convincing herself that she _so_ did not care anymore, she wanted to at least be able to have a decent exchange with him every once in a while, if not always. None of them would be leaving the group anytime soon, so.

_See you later, Jacks._

Jackie’s eyes bulged as Hyde’s words finally registered in her brain. He had called her Jacks again! What did that mean? Were they okay again? Did he think she looked hot? She wouldn’t blame him if he did, Jackie did spend an extra fifteen minutes on her hair this morning. Maybe he was finally ready to be friends again? That was all there was leftfor them to be, right?

She was never going to find out what the hell Hyde calling her ‘Jacks’ again meant, and this was all Eric’s fault. So, she did the only rational thing she could think of to release her frustration with the situation.

She kicked Eric on his shin.

“Ow!” Eric cried and bent over to inspect his knee.

“He called me Jacks, you- ” Jackie exclaimed with such intensity that made Eric take a step back.

“Uh, what is that, Mom?” he blurted out as he slowly limped and retreated back to the kitchen, “You need help fixing dinner? Yeah, I’m coming!”

“It’s 9 o’clock in the morning, Eric! I’m not stupid!” Jackiecalled out after him “And I know Mrs. Forman’s not home!”

She let out a groan and sighed. Trust Eric to ruin what could possibly be hers and Hyde’s only conversation where they didn’t breathe fire down each other’s throats. She would have to find a way to get back at him. But seeing as Jackie won’t be seeing him until later in the afternoon because she had to go buy a few things for the basement, Donna would have to pay for Eric instead.

 _I’m not the one making the decisions here_ , Jackie thought as she made her way over to the Pinciotti’s.

~

“Jackie, they’re the same freakin’ color!” Donna whined as Jackie held up two Christmas balls in front of her. Jackie shook her head in disappointment. They have been trying to choose the right ornaments for the Christmas tree they had first bought, and Donna kept complaining because Jackie was taking too long in choosing what christmas balls they should get. _She just didn’t get it!_

“Nuh-uh! See, this is Palatinate Blue,” Jackie raised her right hand higher than the other, “And this one is Persian Blue.”

Donna squinted her eyes at her and pursed her lips. “Yeah, Jackie, I don’t see a difference.”

“You never learn, do you?” Jackie shook her head at Donna. “Well, you’re lucky you have me because I’ll tell you the right answer.”

She looked around and called a sales lady, “Excuse me, we’ll get three boxes of the Palatinate Blue Christmas Balls, please.”

“Good choice!” the sales lady grinned at her, took the ornaments off Jackie’s hands, and made her way to the stock room.

Jackie smiled triumphantly at Donna, “See?”

“Whatever, midget.”

The saleslady soon returned with their items, and they went to the counter and paid for it. They walked out of the store and wandered around the mall, just chattering about random things. She and Donna squabbled a lot but she was still her best friend. Jackie knew that most of the time, Donna didn’t understand how she worked, but she didn’t care. She was confident that if something bad happens to her, Donna would be one of the people she could count on. Donna did give her a place to stay when she had nowhere before, even willing to swallow her pride so that Jackie would agree.

Jackie had long forgiven her for the past year. She had felt abandoned by her, she couldn’t believe that Donna would actually befriend Samantha. She had been jealous with Sam because she had the two people Jackie used to have by her side all the time. Donna caught on at some point that she hadn’t been okay, and she hung out with Jackie more. Donna had hugged Jackie that day, “I’m sorry. I was just trying to make Hyde feel kind of okay about the whole thing, and I guess it kind of made me forgot about you. That was really shitty of me.”

Jackie accepted her apology with a hug. They had stood by the doorway for quite sometime before being broken apart by Kelso and Fez gasping. She didn’t say anything back, and she wished she had. Jackie knew she hadn’t been the besets friend to her either, but she was done thinking solely of herself. She’d rather lose some of her pride than lose the people who she cared about, and in turn, cared about her.

“You know what?” Jackie turned to Donna, “I.. I missed you, you know?”

“Me too” Donna smiled quietly at her, and she smiled back.

It was in those times when Donna understood what Jackie wanted to say without saying a lot that she knew— they may be dysfunctional together, but they really were best friends.

~

“You guys, hurry up! They might be here any second now!” Kelso said as he stuck his head out of the basement door to check if Brooke and Betsy were there. He had been pestering everyone to keep moving and hang the decorations as fast as they could because it was Betsy’s second Christmas, and he wanted everything to be perfect.

“You know, we could use a little help in here!” Jackie said playfully as she turned her head to Kelso’s direction. He was pacing around the basement back and forth and opening the door to check every once in a while. He smiled to herself. It was nice seeing Kelso worry about something that so obviously mattered to him.

“I think we lost him, guys.” Eric declared with his hands on his hips. Him, Hyde and Fez had just finished putting garlands sprayed with fake snow all over the place.

“Yes,” Fez dusted his shirt, “There is no talking to Kelso now, he has not shut up about Betsy and Brooke even when there were two beautiful blondes with big boobs down by Fatso Burger. It is pretty serious.”

“Hey, Kelso, man, would you stop swinging the door every 10 seconds?” Hyde handed Donna the last box of christmas balls, and sat down on the couch “It’s freezing.”

“Sorry,” Kelso frowned and plopped down the nearest chair, “I’m just worried. I haven’t seen them both in so long.”

“Kelso, you were literally down by Chicago a week and a half ago.” Donna looked over her shoulder to grin at Kelso and shared a look with Jackie. She knew that Donna was thinking the same thing she was.

Hyde’s new favourite Kelso burns were anything that involved Brooke. She thought it was because Kelso always got so defensive and storms off. At first, Jackie felt bad form him. He had already been through enough, but then she started to catch on. Hyde was trying to make Kelso admit that he still had feelings for Brooke. Maybe Kelso doesn’t know it yet himself, he wasn’t the brightest boy after all. If that was the case, then he was the only one left in the dark.

“There, all done!” Jackie exclaimed proudly “Mrs. Forman is gonna love me! I, once again, save the dull and boring basement and turned it into this… wonderland!”

Everyone rolled their eyes at her— she didn’t care because she knew that they were doing it affectionately.

“Eric, your mom’s gonna love me more than she loves you!” Jackie’s hands shot up to cover her mouth at this realization. She squealed, both in happiness and so that she could spite Eric, before taking a seat on the couch.

The door flew open before Eric could say anything back revealing a smiling Brooke with Betsy waving frantically at everyone in her arms.

“Baby!” Kelso stood abruptly “You’re here!” He rushed immediately to hug Brooke, which of course, led the group to exchange knowing looks.

If Brooke noticed this, she chose not to let on. “Hey Michael!” She gave him a hug and turned tothe group, “Hey, guys!”

“Hi, Brooke!”

“Hello, baby Bets!”

“Hey, Brooke!”

“How have ya been, man?”

“Nice coat, Brooke.” Jackie noted in greeting. Her and Brooke had become increasingly friendly towards each other the past year. She didn’t know why, but when Donna ditched her to hang out with the blonde bimbo that Hyde had for a wife, Jackie became angry and restless. It was when she was flipping through her address book as she looked for someone to call that she realised that she was alone. Those five people in the basement— Donna, Eric, Fez, Michael, even Hyde, they were all she had. She flipped through the page one more time, and that was when she had spotted her name.

_Brooke Rockwell._

She had been too upset to care. Her past qualms about Brooke were immediately thrown out the window as soon as Brooke picked up the phone and asked Jackie the one question no one had even bothered asking her before, _“Are you okay, Jackie?”_

Since then, Brooke called her once a week, and it made them closer through the course of time.

“Thanks!” Brooke smiled as she put Betsy down. As soon as her feet touched the ground she bolted straight to Jackie. “Auntie Jackie!”

“Hey, cutie!” Jackie opened her arms, ready for Betsy jump into them. “How’s my favourite god daughter?”

“Jackie, she’s your only god daughter.” Donna argued.

“Do you hear that, Bets?” Jackie cooed at Betsy. “That’s the sound of jealousy.”

Donna rolled her eyes playfully and threw a pillow at Jackie, earning her a scowl. “Oops!”

Jackie blew Donna a raspberry in which she responded with a shit eating grin. She turned her attention again to Betsy and began playing with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hyde slowly walking towards their direction.

“You’re looking cuter and cuter every time I see you!” Jackie’s voice rose an octave higher. Hyde was making a move to sit next to Jackie and she was panicking. They never sit next to each other that much anymore, and if they did, the whole conversation would be made up of awkward throat clearing from both of them.

Betsy giggled, completely oblivious to Jackie’s panicked expression, and placed both of her small, chubby hands on Jackie’s cheeks and frowned in what seemed like deep concentration, “One day, I’ll be as cute as yew!”

“You’re gonna out-cute her, Bets, trust me.” Hyde gave the top of Betsy’s head a light tap.

“Unca’ Hyde!” she squealed in delight and moved her body towards where he was seated.

Hyde chuckled and pulled her onto his lap before poking her nose, “How are ya, tiny?”

Jackie shifted in her seat uncomfortably and crossed her legs. She could feel the warmth that was emitting from Hyde’s body, and seeing him play with Betsy made her heart clench. There was a time when she had dreamt of the very same thing— _their_ own family, where they were all happy and together.

“Jackie, do you think you can maybe stop squirming?” Hyde casted Jackie an annoyed look.

Jackie was immediately pulled out of her thoughts and snapped, “Why don’t you move to the other side so you won’t feel me squirm?”

“Why don’t you get up and move to the other side?”

“Are we playing a game?” Betsy scratched her head with a confused expression on her face.

“Nope,” Eric handed her a popsicle, “That’s how they usually talk, Betsy.”

“Can it, Eric.” Brooke scolded. “She’s stillkid, so she doesn’t understand how these two work. Don’t go giving her any ideas.”

“Brooke, the kid deserves to know the truth.” Eric deadpanned.

“What?” Betsy asked, looking around the room.

“Betsy,” Fez kneeled until he was face to face with her, “Your Uncle Hyde and Auntie Jackie used to be lovers.”

“Huh?”

“Fez!” Brooke cried and turned to Kelso, “Michael, control your friends!”

Everyone was giggling— including Kelso even though he tried to hold back his laughter.

“Alright, everyone, enough. Stop it before Brooke decides to leave m- uh,” Kelso immediately backtracked “Point Place again.”

Jackie shot Kelso a knowing smile, which he had caught. He made a face at her that made her laugh. Everyone started chattering again, and that was when she realized that she was still sitting next to Hyde, and they were dangerously close to each other. She could smell the musky scent that came from his cologne. Oh my _god,_ she thought. Usually these things end up badly. Mostly with them fighting, much to their friends’ horror— or entertainment, she couldn’t tell. So, she decided, she should get up before this ruins whatever happy moment was happening in the basement.

She was about to stand until she felt Hyde’s knee touch hers. Jackie was frozen in shock. Since when was it acceptable for them to touch in any form? Maybe it wasn’t on purpose. The small touch caused her to flash different memories in her head and it made her dizzy. She didn’t know if she should, but she the need to look over to him was eating her up. And she did.

Hyde flashed her a soft smile and nudged her knee. She knew it meant that she could stay, and it gave her a flicker of hope. Maybe they could still be okay. Maybe it wasn’t too late for them to friends… maybe more? Jackie shrugged the thought away, she wasn’t going to ruin it. She flashed him back the softest smile she could muster. Hopefully he understood. She didn’t know what this all meant, but maybe this meant that she was finally going to have a good Christmas again.


	4. Day 4

Kitty had insisted that everyone should have breakfast together, and that was why they were all at the Forman's kitchen that morning. The chatter was faint above the loud booming of Bing Crosby Christmas songs that were blasting from the living room.

"Kitty, would you turn the music down?" Red said. "It's not even Christmas yet, for god's sake!"

"Oh, Red." Kitty's smile faltered, but she laughed anyway. "You don't mean that!"

Jackie watched as Red look at his wife for a few seconds before putting on a forced smile on his face and said, "Of course, I am. It's Christmas, the.. " he paused. "Jolliest time of the year."

Kitty laughed delightfully at him and went in for a peck on the lips. A collective groan escaped among the group, and Red and Kitty looked at them with annoyed expressions on their faces.

"Kitty," Red asked with a raised voice, "Remind me why we're feeding a bunch of dumbasses for free again?"

"Red." Kitty said warningly. The warning was clearly received by Red as he went back to reading his newspaper, which made Jackie smile in amusement. She had always found it so funny (and admirable), how Red would do anything Kitty would tell him to. Jackie used to hang around Mrs. Forman all the time when she and Hyde had still dated, and out of all the tips and lessons that was given to her, the one thing that had stayed on her mind was, _"Pick your battles.",_ which proved to be useful in a lot of instances.

"Jackie!" Kelso said loudly in her ear. "Earth to Jackie!"

"Huh?" Jackie snapped out of her thoughts and glared at Kelso. She looked up to see everyone's eyes on her. It made her feel uneasy, but she masked it with her snottiness. "What? Am I looking especially gorgeous today?"

"Mrs. Forman was asking where you were taking Betsy today." Donna leaned over the table to tell her. "If you were such a good godmother, I wouldn't have to tell you that. A good godmother always listens."

Jackie made a face at her as Donna pursed her lips and convincingly nodded her head to everyone. "Oh, save your breath, Donna. I already won." She flashed her a triumphant smile and continued talking, "But if everyone should know, me and Hyde are taking Betsy to the fair in Kenosha, Mrs. Forman. They decided to open one up because it stopped snowing pretty quickly. They say it won't be back until a couple more days or something."

"A fair? Oh, how lovely!" Kitty smiled genuinely at her and placed her hands on her heart. "And you and Steven will be spending time together! This is just wonderful!"

"Yeah, uh, I'm gonna go make sure the car's in shape and then we're leaving, 'kay?" Hyde declared before making his way to the El Camino on the front porch. She knew that the direction in which the conversation was heading to was making him feel uncomfortable, and that was _why_ he left.

Typical of him, Jackie thought, always running out when something scares him even the slightest bit. She watched him slide the kitchen door close and brought her attention back to the people in front of her. She was already going to spend a while day with him, anyway. Jackie could use a little distraction right now.

"Kitty, stop butting in Steven and the Burkhart girl's business." Red grumbled without looking up from his newspaper.

"I hardly would call this butting in." Kitty chirped. "Believe me, if I butted in, you will all know."

Jackie had no doubt in her mind about that. She had witnessed— and have been a part of, herself, one if not too many situations that Mrs. Forman had orchestrated. Most of the time, it ends up with multiple people storming off, or somebody getting greatly humiliated. It was always one or the other.

"Hey, what time are you guys leaving?" Fez frowned. "Baby Betsy is hogging all the maple syrup, and there is none left for Fez."

Betsy stuffed her already full mouth with more maple syrup-dripping pancake and whacked Fez in his arms. He tried not to laugh, but honestly, who could resist someone as cute as Betsy? Michael wasn't lying when he had said that she was the cutest baby in Point Place. Until Jackie gets her own kid, of course.

"Oh, dammit, fine. She can have all of the maple syrup." Fez's bottom lip protruded. "But only because she is so freakin'cute and irresistible."

"She is, isn't she?" Kelso grinned. "She got it from me."

"She sure did, amigo." Fez punched him lightly on his arm.

Ignoring the exchange of the two, Jackie focused on wiping the dried syrup on Betsy's cheek with a wet towel. It's been awhile since she has been on a fair herself, and she was looking forward to going. Maybe even more than Betsy was.

"Jackie, Betsy's bag is by the door, just in case she needs a change of clothes. And there's a first aid kit there too if anything-"

"Brooke, relax." Jackie placed her hand on Brooke's shoulder. "Everything's gonna be fine, okay?"

"Brooke, don't believe her. She scares children off because," Eric said and staged whispered, "she's the devil."

"Eric, come on that's not funny." Donna scolded him before Jackie could say anything. "I'm sure Brooke is already worried as it is."

Brooke flashed Donna a thankful smile. "Thanks, Donna."

"No problem, Brooke." Donna said, pleased. "It's not too late to make me Betsy's rightful godmother!"

"This is getting embarrassing, Donna." Jackie deadpans. "Plus, you are too late. I already bought the three of us matching shirts to wear at the fair."

"Wait, you got matching shirts for the three of you? You got _Hyde_ a shirt matching with you and Bets?" Eric chuckled in disbelief. "Man, it's too bad I'm not gonna see how you're gonna get him to wear that."

"I'll make sure to tell you all about it in full detail when we come back." Jackie promised, and got up from her chair.

"I don't doubt that." Donna muttered under her breath, smiling.

"Well, Betsy, are you ready to, Have. Some. Fun?!" Jackie cheered.

"Did she just-"

"Yeah."

"In the form of a cheer?"

"Yup."

Betsy swallowed the last of her mashed pancakes and planted a messy kiss on both Brooke's and Kelso's cheek before walking to Jackie and taking her hand, "Ready!"

"I'll see you around later, guys." Jackie waved them goodbye, and picked up the duffel bag Brooke was talking about earlier. "Thanks for breakfast, Mr. And Mrs. Forman! Bye!"

"Take care, you guys!" Brooke called. "Mommy loves you, Bets! Daddy too!"

"Byeeeeee!" Betsy squealed, her chubby hand waving frantically in the air.

Before closing the kitchen door, Jackie swore that she heard Kelso say, "Y'hear that? Brooke loves me too! Alright!" She laughed and led Betsy to where Hyde was leaning on the door of his car. Oh boy, here we go, she thought.

"About time." Hyde said impatiently. "What took you so long?"

"Pancakes!" Betsy smiled. "Let's leave now, Unca' Hyde."

"Alright, tiny, get in." Hyde smiled back at her and opened the backseat door.

"Um, what are you doing?" Jackie asked. "You're not expecting her to sit on the back alone, are you?

"Nope" Hyde grinned proudly. "You're riding with her on the back."

"What? Why? It's just the three of us." Jackie's brows furrowed. "Me and Bets are sitting in front so we can DJ."

"That's exactly why you're gonna be sitting on the back."

"No, in front!" Betsy pulled on Hyde's shirt and pouted. "Me and Auntie Jackie wanna sit with you in front!"

Hyde pressed the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed and took a breath. "Fine. Just get in the car, but I'm doing this only because you're cute."

"Yippee!" Betsy squealed in delight. " Heh, everyone keeps sayings I'm a cutie."

Jackie smiled as she climbed into the passenger seat and pulled Betsy to her lap. She giggled and bopped Betsy's nose before turning the car stereo on. This was it. She was going to be spending her first full day with just Hyde and Betsy after their break up.

"Man, tiny, you've been spending too much time with Jackie."

"I know." Jackie grinned as she settled for a radio station that was playing ABBA's Dancing Queen. Hyde groaned in protest but said nothing.

Good, she thought. Jackie needed to listen to them to calm her damn nerves. It was going to be a long, and interesting day. Hopefully, she gets out of this alive.

* * *

The past hour consisted of Jackie and Betsy singing along to Christmas songs on the top of their lungs. She couldn't count how many times they've sung Jingle Bells on the way over. Hyde had told them off for "making his ears bleed", but Jackie swore that she saw him smile quietly when she and Betsy were singing their own rendition of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). She didn't bring this up, because Hyde might act all macho and proud even more when they arrive at the fair. She would just keep the image in her head, already to use it to warm her insides for the rest of the day.

Hyde can try pretending that he didn't care all he wanted, but he was not fooling anyone. Or well, at least, Jackie.

"There, there it is!" Jackie pointed at the fair that could be seen not very far from the road they were taking.

"We're here!" Betsy screeched on top of her lungs. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Now, Bets, calm down." Jackie laughed. "You have to change to the shirt I got you so we can all match when we go for rides later."

Jackie reached for the shirts on her bag when the car stopped moving. Hyde was being too quiet apart from his occasional quiet laughs and grunts of annoyance, and Jackie didn't like it. She felt like she was doing something wrong, and it was bothering her a lot. Jackie hated being guilty over something she was clueless about. How was she going to make it better if she didn't know _how_ to fix what she might have done wrong. Did she misread the signs yesterday when he nudged her knee?

"Here you go, Bets. Hands up!" Jackie told her a little too cheerfully, and casually tossed a shirt to Hyde. She didn't look up to see his reaction because as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't want to make him angry. Not when they weren't burning each other— especially not when they were alone.

"Jackie, what the hell is this?" Hyde looked at her more puzzled than he was angry. He held the shirt in front of him and it read, _"This Godfather Knows How to Rock and Roll"_

Jackie looked back quickly at him and pursed her lips to stop herself from bursting into laughter. She didn't say anything until she finished dressing Betsy. " _This Goddaughter Knows How to Rock and Roll"_ the shirt had said. Betsy looked from her shirt to her Aunt Jackie, and proceeded to clap her hands happily.

"That's what we're wearing today." Jackie replied nonchalantly.

"Wha- I'm not wearing this!" Hyde replied ghastly as she put on her own shirt on top of the one she was already wearing and smoothed her hair.

"Yes, you are." Jackie raised her eyebrows.

"Let's go, let's go, I wanna ride the carousel horses!" Betsy whined as she bounced up and down Jackie's lap, her pigtails echoing her movements.

"Come on, Hyde, please?" Jackie pouted. She was surprised Hyde didn't look as pissed off as she predicted. Maybe.. Maybe she _hadn't_ misread the knee-nudge yesterday, after all. "You don't want to keep Betsy from riding the carousel, don't you?"

Hyde gave her a displeased look and began to change into the shirt. "You know you're still as overbearing as before, man." He clicked his tongue when he was done, "You happy now?"

"Yup." Jackie giggled. "Let's go, Betsy."

She opened the door and hopped out. Betsy was twirling around with hands spread out, and was in the middle of fits of laughter. When Hyde went out of the car, Jackie could have sworn that he was blushing. She fought a smile back herself. She decided that Hyde owed her a lot because she was keeping her mouth shut for numerous things. (Read: _Steven Hyde can feel!)_

"What are we waiting for, people?" Jackie put her hands on her hips. "Let's have some fun!"

Betsy took her hand and pulled her to where Hyde was standing awkwardly. She took his hand in hers as well, and the three of them began trudging towards the entrance of the fair hand in hand.

"Um, hey, Jacks." Hyde said in a low voice.

"Yeah?" Jackie turned her head to his direction as they were closing in on the entrance. Her heart skipped a beat at the nickname he used for the second time in a long time.

"I, uh," Hyde cleared his throat. "I don't know how to do this… this thing where we try to be friendly with each other because we weren't even really friends to begin with. But I'm gonna try. I'm running out of Jackie burns."

Jackie laughed and playfully hit his arm, "Right, sure. Maybe the Christmas spirit is getting to you, but, I'm glad you're waving a white flag. I'm running out too."

Running out…. of fucks to give? Of patience? Of acts to pretend she was fine? Jackie didn't bother to decide. She was just happy that f _inally_ they were gonna try being friends again.

Friends. Huh, that was a weird concept for the both of them, but Jackie will take whatever she can get.

"Um, Unca' Hyde are you gonna make kiss-y faces to Auntie Jackie now?" Betsy asked, giggling a little bit.

"No!" Jackie and Hyde said in unison. Suddenly, they both couldn't look at each other. Jackie felt blood rush to her cheeks. Damn it. She hated feeling too vulnerable and exposed, and she was pretty sure that Hyde hated it more.

"I don't know why you just said that, Betsy." Hyde feigned amusement. "But you're funnier for an a little toddler."

"My Daddy always looks at Mommy the way you looks at Auntie Jackie before making the kiss-y face." Betsy said more to herself than to Hyde.

Hyde coughed loudly before forcing yet another fake laugh and turning his head to Jackie. "Man, kids are something, huh?"

If Jackie wasn't blushing earlier, she sure as hell was blushing scarlet now. She sucked in her cheek to keep them from being too flushed and let out a fake chuckle. "Yeah."

This really was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

"Betsy, no, you're too young to ride the roller coaster!" Jackie pulled the toddler away from the barricade as tears started forming on her eyes.

"No fair!" Betsy put the back of her hand on her face as she cried. "My.. My feet hurts. I miss my Daddy. He puts me up on him when my feet hurts."

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry." Jackie said, unsure of what to do. She looked at Hyde for help. _Now,_ she truly ran out of ideas.

"What do you mean, tiny?" Hyde crouched down to her. "He puts ya up on his shoulders?"

"Uh-huh." Betsy said in a small voice.

"Would you like to sit on my shoulders, tiny?" Hyde pinched Betsy's cheek lightly. Jackie was pretty sure her heart was starting to melt. It was like watching her old daydreams happen in front of her eyes.

"Yeah." Betsy sniffed and gave him a weak smile. She walked closer to Hyde to get on his back.

"Hey, Jackie, help Betsy up, will you?"

Jackie realised she had been frozen on the spot for a few moments. Hurriedly, she carried Betsy and lowered her on Hyde's shoulders. Betsy was now smiling with red rimmed eyes. The tip of her nose were also a little red from crying.

"You feeling okay, now, Bets?" Jackie asked her.

"Mm-hmm. Plenty!" Betsy shot her a wobbly smiled and grasped Hyde's hair as he stood up slowly. He made a face but didn't say anything.

"Ready to go, tiny?" he asked, moving his head so Betsy knew he was talking to her.

"Mm, cotton candy!" One of her chubby fingers pointed to a booth that sold cotton candy.. "Wanna cotton candy!"

Hyde made a move but Jackie stopped him, "It's okay I can go get it."

"Thanks." he smiled.

God, Hyde needs to stop smiling at Jackie. It was driving her nuts. He rarely smiled— let alone with her. Especially, since Chicago. Their little arrangement was still freaking her out a little bit, but it was working, and it's fun. She missed spending time with him. Truth be told, he was her bestest friend, maybe even more than Donna was to her. He had always gotten how she thinks, and he was her number one supporter albeit in private. She didn't need him to do cheers for her like she did in high school because a smile from him had always been enough for her.

But at some point a smile hadn't been enough anymore, she started to want more, and maybe that was when their relationship started going downhill. Maybe she had been too persistent, or too persuasive. Maybe she kept pushing and pushing, but didn't realise that she was doing it wrong because somehow along the way, she had pushed him away. And now here they were, stumbling around each other like a bunch of blind mice. Count on them to start their relationship under unnatural circumstances yet again.

"Two of the pink ones please." Jackie told the vendor. She glanced towards where Hyde and Betsy were, and smiled. She couldn't help but think that he would make a great father one day.

"That your family, Miss?" the vendor asked as he handed her her order.

"Huh?" Jackie could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks again. "Oh, um, no, no. That's my friend. We're god parents of the little girl."

"Oh? My bad!" the vendor chuckled. "You look like you'd make a cute family. Enjoy your day!"

At an utter loss for words, she mumbled a quick thank you as she took the cones and walked over to Hyde and Betsy.

"Thanks, man." Hyde took one of the cones from her hand and gave it to Betsy who was still playing with his hair. "Uh, do you think you can readjust my glasses? I don't want it falling off, I've had this one for a long time."

"Wow, so you _can_ commit." Jackie teased. Hyde raised an eyebrow at her that set her off laughing. Laughing with him felt nice. Familiar.

She took a little step closer and lightly pushed his sunglasses back to the bridge of his nose. Was that his breath she felt on her face? She wasn't sure, she was probably just imagining things. They couldn't possibly be standing that close to each other, right?

"Jackie, are you.." Hyde's lips slowly formed a smile. "Are ya blushing?"

"U-No!" Jackie said a little too loudly for her liking. She was supposed to be Zen, goddammit! This was probably the most she had blushed in her whole life. She crossed her arms and turned away as Hyde laughed at her with his tongue sticking out, making Betsy giggle too.

"Whatever." she said coolly, still feeling the heat from her cheeks as she fought the curling of her lips.

* * *

"I'm gonna go hand Betsy to Brooke. You alright here?" Jackie asked as Hyde pulled over in front of the Forman's driveway.

"Yeah, I'll get the things in the trunk." Hyde nodded in response and got out of the car.

Jackie yawned she got out of the car and moved to carry a sleeping Betsy out. It was 7 in the evening, earlier than their estimated arrival, and of course by the front porch was Brooke, eagerly waiting for their return.

"Oh, hello!" Brooke said with her arms open, taking Betsy from her. "Thanks for taking her out, Jackie. I hope it wasn't any trouble for you guys."

"Oh, no, it was fun." Jackie smiled as she stretched. "We had a lotta' fun."

"That's good." Brooke patted her daughter's head softly and moved closer to Jackie. "So, how was your day with him? I can't believe you got him to wear the shirt!"

"I know, right! He didn't really put up a fight." Jackie whispered and grinned. "Today went surprisingly good. We didn't fight or anything. He actually, well, I think he sort of called a truce."

"A truce?" Brooke raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he said he was running out of burns." Jackie laughed.

"Right. Like that'll happen." Brooked chuckled and shook her head. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, Brooke." Jackie sighed. "Maybe he's just tired. I know I am."

"So, what are we gossiping about here tonight, ladies." Hyde stopped in front of the two (and a half?) girls. "Anything interesting you'd like to share with me?"

"No, not really." Jackie replied, keeping her cool.

Brooke looked at him innocently and shrugged her shoulders.

"Mhmm." Hyde nodded slowly and looked at the them back and forth for a minute suspiciously before saying, "Well, this has been fun but I gotta call it a night." He turned to Brooke and said, "You have a good kid there, Brooke. Come around more often."

With that, he walked inside the house with their bags slung over his shoulders. When he was out of their sight, they both sighed.

"That was close." Brooke sighed in relief. "Are you okay, though, Jackie?"

"Of course, I am." Jackie answered defensively. "Why won't I be?"

"You know why." Brooke pursed her lips together. "Listen, I'm just looking out for you, okay? Do you really think it's a good idea for you the be acting all friendly with him?"

"I don't know, Brooke." Jackie admitted a second time after a moment of silence. "All I know is that I really want him back in my life. In whatever way I can have him."


	5. Day 5

It was snowing again.

Jackie watched the snowflakes fall slowly from the sky with a serene look on her face. She was clad in a red turtle neck, and her hair was up in a loose bun. She got up to her feet to play Christmas songs. The house was too quiet once again— even for her. She hadn't been bothered by the silence that was looming over the house before, Jackie was used to her parents being absent all the time. She grew up pretty much without them, anyway. Now, it was like a haunting reminder that she was not only alone, but incredibly lonely.

It used to be bearable, and the silence used to be comforting. In a crazy way it used to remind her of how everything in her life was in order. But her dad had only just gotten back in the city council after being in jail for a few years, and her mother hasn't returned from her latest trip to Europe that she had left for over a year ago, and well, Hyde wasn't there to keep her company anymore.

It wasn't as if she needed him to be there, she didn't, and it wasn't as if her friends didn't make her happy, because they did— but his company was the only thing that would make her feel like she was home. And that was the one thing that Jackie never had until she found him. Jackie guessed she had that with Donna and everyone else too, but it wasn't the same. It was a different with Hyde, it always was.

Maybe that was why she woke up earlier that day looking forward to going to the basement. They were finally on speaking terms again. Too much time was wasted with them being snarky at each other, but maybe they both needed that, or maybe they were being stupid and stubborn.

Jackie had been honestly surprised that Hyde was the one who called the truce. First, he called her Jacks, and now this. This Christmas was already turning out better than her last one.

"Why can't we just redo this whole Secret Santa thing so Brooke can join us?" Kelso let out an annoyed scoff. "No one's gonna give her presents now, and if no one gives her presents, she's not gonna want to come back here!"

"Kelso, that's not true. Christmas isn't just about receiving gifts." Donna said.

"Yeah, sure, everyone's celebrating the birth of baby Jesus Christ." Kelso replied sarcastically.

Donna looked at Kelso for a moment, seeming at a loss for words before continuing, "Besides, I already got her and Betsy something a few weeks ago, if that's what you're worried about."

"Well, I, for one, agree with Michael." Jackie declared. "I think we should just redo the whole thing. I'll even write the names on the paper and everything."

"I don't think so." Hyde crossed his arms and turned his head to Jackie. "You're just gonna write your name down on every piece of paper and we'll all end up giving you gifts."

"Okay, and?"

"You're hopeless, man." Hyde huffed and shook his head slowly. Jackie grinned at him and throws a pillow playfully to his direction.

"Hey!" Hyde tried to cover his laugh, but a faint chuckle escapes his lips.

"Ew, stop that!" Eric cried, his nose scrunching up.

"What are you talking about now, Eric?" Donna sighed.

"Them, they're flirting, Donna, don't you see?" Eric gestured wildly.

"Stop twitching!"

"Can it, Forman."

"Oh, come on, Donna- you don't- Hyde just chuckled!"

"Uh," Hyde shifted on his seat. "No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did!" Eric and Jackie said in unison.

"Will you two shut your trap?" Hyde crossed his arms. "I did not chuckle. I am the Grinch. I hate Christmas and I hate you."

"You so did, now shut up, you're ruining it!"

The forceful tone of Jackie's voice stunned everyone- including herself. Ah, great, Jackie thought. Way to lose your Zen, Jackie, way to go! She quickly turned to Donna and gave her a look. She has to get Jackie out of this awkward situation before stupid, twitchy Eric says something stupid again.

Donna, understanding Jackie's glare, broke the silence, "O-kay. Well, maybe we should ask Brooke when she comes over. She is coming over today, right, Kelso?"

"Ugh, fine." Kelso whined. "Yeah, they're coming over. Actually, Fez might be with them. He took Betsy to the candy store this morning."

"Aw, that's nice of him." Donna nodded.

"I hope he won't create a scene by stealing a bag of candy from a kid's basket this time." Eric said in a low voice.

"See, Hyde, you need to step up your godparent game if you don't wanna be dethroned. There are tons of people in this room that wants the title for themselves, and will stop at nothing to get it…. Donna!"

"Hey!" Donna scowled.

"Pretty sure Brooke thinks I'm the reliable one. I'm not gonna blame here if she's comparing me to this idiot." Hyde nods his head towards Eric.

"I wasn't the one that got married while I was drunk." Eric shot back in a sing-song voice.

"Burn!" Kelso cried and shook his head slowly. "A very, very inappropriate burn, but a very good burn nonetheless."

Jackie recoiled at the mention of the past marriage and looked away. She was doing so good, not dwelling on it for a few days. She thought, maybe she deserved a break from torturing herself with thoughts about Hyde's past marriage.

"Jackie.." Eric started.

"Eric, shut up before you say something even worse." Donna warned him, her eyes on Jackie's back.

"Yeah, you're really not good, man." Kelso agreed sympathetically.

Hyde drew his eyebrows together and frogged Eric.

"Ow- hey, that hurt!"

"Good." Hyde growled. "If you don't shut up, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Alright!" Kelso jumped to the ground in excitement. "My money's on Hyde. Eric's boney arms can't take Hyde."

"Kelso!" Donna scolded at him.

"Hey, stop it," Jackie cried. "Just drop it, okay?"

"Control your twitchy boyfriend's mouth, Big D." Hyde grunted. He stood up and walked to his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Ai, who got Hyde agitated?"

The group turned to find Fez, Brooke and Betsy by the door. They didn't notice they had already went inside, probably because they were threading through water as Hyde spat out. Broke flashed Jackie a knowing look, and raised her eyebrows in concern.

"I should go, huh?" Eric said, shame etched on his face.

"No," Jackie smiled. "Let me."

"Are you sure that's a good idea Jackie? Cause Hyde seemed a bit..?" Donna trailed looked uneasy.

Jackie knew that Donna was just concerned, but she waved her hand dismissively at Donna. "I'll be fine, come on. It's Hyde we're talking about here. He's not gonna do anything to hurt me."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at her, but she ignored it and walked swiftly to Hyde's room. "You're all such babies!"

"Like me!" Betsy giggled.

"Even more of a baby than you, Betsy boo." Jackie laughed.

"Guys, I think we should give the helmet to Jackie." Kelso whispered, sounding genuinely concerned. "It's time."

"Oh, shut up, you!" Jackie shoved him on the way and knocked on the door. "Open up, it's me!"

"Go away, I don't want company, man." Hyde called from inside.

"Steven, if you don't open this door I'm gonna kick it open!" Jackie warned. "Don't think I won't do it cause I did it once, and we both know how that ended up!"

"Fine! Jesus." Jackie heard shuffling from the other side of the door, and it swung open. "Come in, and close the door."

Jackie twirled in triumph in front of her friends before going inside his room and closing the door behind her.

"Nice… uh, gray coloured room." Jackie tried.

Hyde raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed. "Jackie, you've been here multiple times before. I know you think my room's depressing."

"Alright, fine." Jackie admitted and sat by the end of the bed across him. "Well, I'm not here to talk about that."

"You called me Steven." Hyde said.

"I…" Jackie pursed her lips. Shit, she was hoping he wouldn't catch that. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"It's, uh. It's better that way." Hyde looked away. "I'm not used to you calling me Hyde. It sounds off."

"Yeah," she laughed slowly, and began picking at the thin bed sheet that covered his small cot. "Um, it kind of just slipped out naturally, so."

Hyde nodded and they both fell into an awkward silence. It was awkward and comfortable at the same time. Confusing, like everything was when it involved him. Jackie knew he wanted to say something, and she knew that he was aware that she wanted to say something, but neither of them dared to make the first move. The air inside Hyde's room was suddenly getting thicker by the second, and she felt like her throat was closing up and she wanted to cry for help. It has come to this now.

It was sad, and that was why Jackie didn't like thinking about it. It could've been her fault, maybe it was his, that they didn't know how to act around each other. It was not surprising at all, though, because it was always all or nothing with him. They hated each other, and then they were lovers. Friendship didn't have a room during the early stages of their relationship. But, they were trying now, even if it was a little too late, maybe they can still do something about it.

"Listen, about what Eric said," Jackie sighed and turned to face him.

"I don't," Hyde sighed from what seemed like defeat. "Jackie, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, Hyde, we don't have to talk about it anymore." she said. "It's done, let's forget it."

Jackie didn't say anything else after that. She didn't want to go into too much detail of how much the whole situation had destroyed bits and parts of who she was when it happened. There was no point in talking about it today anymore, she wanted to forget it happened, and she knew that Hyde wouldn't be comfortable talking about it. IT surprised her that he even brought it up in the first place. He looked torn, and frustrated, and she felt bad for him. She wanted to make him feel better, and maybe she was doing them all a favor by avoiding the subject.

Her pleading eyes made Hyde squirm and her lips turned into a firm, straight line as if he was contemplating.

"Steven." Hyde mumbled as he shifted in his seat.

"What?"

"Call me Steven." Hyde said quietly, and even with his sunglasses on, she could see his pleading eyes.

"Okay," Jackie smiled kindly at him. "Steven, let's go back outside?"

She stood up and pulled him to the door. The thickness of the air was slowly going away, and she was thankful for that.

"Hey, Jacks." Hyde bumped her hand with his slowly, letting the back of his hand rest on the back of hers. "Yesterday— it wasn't any worse than bowling." He smiled weakly before turning the knob and stepping outside, leaving a beet red Jackie inside his room.

"Oh, it's okay, you don't have to redo the draw lots." Brooke chuckled dismissively at Kelso. "I already have something for you guys already, it's not a lot but it's something."

"What?!" Jackie gasped in horror. "Brooke Rockwell, what makes you think I'll be accepting something less than "a lot" ?"

"Relax, Jackie." Brooke rolled her eyes. "Of course I got you something else. You're kind of like my best friend so I figured yours should be a little more special."

"Oh, yay!" Jackie clapped and grinned in satisfaction. It was nice to have someone call you her best friend without making a face. She noticed Donna making an irritated face while leaning on Eric's shoulder.

"Hey, Brooke, since I'm the father of your baby, does that mean you got me something special too?" Kelso smiled hopefully at Brooke as he played with his daughter on the ground.

"Michael, I'm pretty sure I already gave you something more than special, and you're playing with her right now." Brooke replied pointedly.

"Oh," Kelso said in dismay. "That's okay, you gave me the greatest gift of all, anyway."

"Aww, Michael, that's so cute!" Jackie cooed at Michael and smiled playfully any Brooke who huffed in response.

"Thanks, Jackie, that was cute!" Kelso replied proudly.

Jackie watched curiously as Brooke walked across the room to get a popsicle, obviously oblivious to what was going on in front of her. She didn't how much more in the face Kelso can be, but it seemed like Brooke wasn't getting the hints. Maybe she should be the one to wear the helmet, and not her after all. The thought comforted Jackie for a bit.

Jackie trudged to her room as she wiped her face after doing her usual skincare routine. Today went better than expected and she was excited to get some rest.

She had checked her father's room as soon as she got home, and found that her Christmas wish list was gone. One of the maids probably gave it to her father already. She hoped that he would at least grant her wish number 1, which was to stay home at Christmas. Jackie knew it probably wasn't going to happen, but writing it down wouldn't hurt. She also checked the mailbox for any new postcards from her mother, but there were none. The last one she got was from France three months ago. She wanted to give up, but she had already done too much of that the past year and she had decided that giving just wasn't something Jackie Burkhart would do.

She sighed and walked to her shelf so she can choose what track she was going to play to lull herself to sleep that night. Music was

"Jackie?"

Jackie screamed and quickly grabbed a pair of scissors by her desk. She made a quick mental note that if she gets out of here alive, she was going to be getting rid of those damned twinkly lights. They made her feel like Laura Ingalls, but she'd rather feel alive than dead. "What do you want, who are you?!"

"Hey, it's just me, put the weapon down, geez!"

Jackie squinted her eyes to see who the suspect was, dropped the scissors and let out a sigh of relief, followed by an angry screech, "What the fuck do you think you're doing here, Hyde?!"

"Hey, I've been knocking for fifteen minutes, and no one was answering, man!" Hyde took a step back and put an arm up for defence.

"Well, it's ass o'clock in the freaking night, what were you thinking?" Jackie lunged forward and hit him wherever she could reach. That ought to teach him not to sneak up on her anymore.

"Ow- hey!" Hyde tried to grab her hands to stop her from hitting him while dodging her blows. "Ow! Let me speak!"

"Okay, fine," Jackie collected herself, and crossed her arms. "Speak!"

"You left your stupid sweater in the basement and I thought I'd give it back to you, before you attacked me." Hyde crouched down to get the sweater from the ground and tossed it to Jackie.

"Okay," Jackie caught the the sweater. "Couldn't you just have given it to me tomorrow?"

Hyde looked at her in silence for a few seconds before saying, "I told you to call me Steven."

"Alright, fine, Steven." Jackie waved her hands in the air sarcastically. "You can't go scaring around people at night, especially when it's Christmas, and a lot of people are breaking in rich people's houses!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, okay." Hyde scratched his head and looked around. "Why are all the lights off? The twinkling lights are making it even harder to see stuff around your room. What does your dad say when he comes home after a long day of work and sees them?"

Jackie didn't answer and stuffed the dirty sweater on a basket near her bed.

"Hey, where-" Hyde walked slowly over over to her. "Jackie, when has your parents been home last?"

"Last night." Jackie lied.

"Bull," Hyde called. "How long have you been staying here alone?"

"I'm not staying here alone." Jackie said defensively and moved away from him. She didn't want anyone to know about her living situations, because she didn't want a pity party over her again.

"Oh yeah? Who are you living with?" Hyde challenged.

"The maids." Jackie answered quietly. There was no point in lying anymore. She had been caught, and as a good liar she was, Hyde could always see through her.

"The ma- where the hell's your dad? Where's Pam?" Hyde's voice rose.

"My dad's been working his ass off to get us back on track, okay?" Jackie said defensively. "And well, you know my mom."

Hyde pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Man, when was the last time they both came home?"

Jackie didn't answer. She didn't want to make a big deal out of this, and the only way for that to happen was if no one knew what was going on.

"Jackie." Hyde repeated. "If you don't tell me I'm calling Mrs. Forman and telling her about your living situation again."

"Wh-no, okay, fine!" Jackie quickly replied. "My dad sometimes comes home to get clothes, but there are a few times in a month where he comes home to eat breakfast with me. He said he has to work extra hours so he can get me something for Christmas, and we'll be out of debt by the end of the year. My mom, well, I haven't seen her for over a year."

"Jackie, man, why didn't you say anything?"

"You know why." She sighed and sat on one of her bean bags.

"No, I meant why didn't you say anything to me." Hyde questioned.

"Steven, we didn't really have the best relationship the past year." Jackie scratched her cheek lightly.

"And? That doesn't mean I didn't wanna know what was going on with you."

"Steven-"

"I know I've been a big jerk to you the past few months, but I didn't want you to feel like-" Hyde let out a big breath. "I want you to keep telling me important things like this. Did you tell Donna?"

Jackie shook her head, her eyes on the ground to mask her surprise at what he was saying.

"You can't just-" Hyde groaned, seemingly frustrated. "Man, you gotta tell people when stuff like this happens to you."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I just didn't want anyone to worry." Jackie explained weakly.

"Yeah, well." Hyde sighed again for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

"Will you promise not to tell them?" Jackie looked at him earnestly. "Please? Please, promise me you're not gonna tell them."

She saw Hyde clench his jaw before replying, "Fine. But if your dad doesn't come home for Christmas, I'm telling Mrs. Forman."

"Thanks, Steven." She smiled weakly at him in relief.

"I'm sleeping on the living room tonight." Hyde announced as he crossed his arms at her.

"What?" Jackie panicked. "No, you're not. You can't sleep over tonight."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"You just can't." She stammered. "Besides, Mrs. Forman's gonna be looking for you in the morning. Don't think I don't know she wakes everyone up with a a plate of warm cookies and a mug of hot chocolate."

"I think I can miss a day of waking up to a tray of diabetes, Jackie. You're alone, and the maids aren't coming back until morning, and-"

"Steven." Jackie said in a firm voice. "I want to spend tonight alone. Offering to spend the night means a lot, but I really want to spend tonight by myself."

Hyde's body went a little rigid as she spoke, but she couldn't spend the night with him after today. Things were going so well for the first time in awhile, and she didn't want to ruin it by pushing her luck too much.

"I'll be fine, hey, you wouldn't wanna listen to ABBA the whole night, would you?" Jackie joked.

"Fine," Hyde replied without a trace of amusement in his voice. "But you better get your ass to the Forman's for breakfast tomorrow or I'm coming to collect you in the morning. Don't be surprised when you see me break in your house again."

"Why can't you just wait for me to wake up so you don't have to break in like a normal person?"

"It's a really big part of who I am, Jackie." Hyde deadpans.

Jackie knew that the argument as over as soon as the words have come out of his mouth. The tension was gone, and she felt like she had just escaped a trap. "Goodnight, Hyde."

"Yeah." Hyde turned around and started for the door, and stopped midway as he turned around to look at her, "Hey, man, you're still family, alright? Don't be a stranger."

Jackie watched as he exited her room without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm being so slow on this fic that I'm scared I'm not gonna finish it by Christmas. But honestly, it's only probably because I'm at my last two weeks of Uni, and I have so much work load that I'm losing writing time D:
> 
> Now, as some of you may have noticed, I changed a bit of information that was established in the show, I thought you guys wouldn't mind. And by the end of 1980, I figured Jackie's character would have developed somehow as she is maturing, like the rest of them, but I'm still trying to keep everyone as in character as possible. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you to everyone who has been so kind to me and this story! I read every single one of your reviews, it really makes me want to write more. Criticisms and suggestions are welcome, so please post one when you can! Thanks again to everyone reading, and to those of you who have marked me as a favourite author, like what! Hehe, see you all on my next update, I'll try to post one within the week.
> 
> PS: If you didn't know yet, I posted an angsty oneshot a few days ago, called 'chasing the time' . Give it a read maybe, if you like angst?


	6. Day 6

There were a number of reasons why Jackie didn't like running.

One, she didn't like perspiring. She would avoid it if she could, but in very rare cases that she couldn't she grew overly conscious and tell people that no, she wasn't sweating, she was _glistening._ Second, her hair got all over her face. She could always tie them up in a ponytail, but Jackie preferred to wear her locks down because it framed her face perfectly. Third, she didn't like that she could feel her cheeks jiggling when she would do so. It just made her feel fat, ironically. And fourth, her body was just not built for running. If it was, she would have signed up for track and not cheerleading.

Yet here she was, on a chilly morning, running as fast as she could all the while trying not to slip. There wasn't much snow on the ground as she expected, so it worked out on her favour. Sort of. If it all did, she wouldn't be running to the Forman's for breakfast, but freakin' Hyde had to blackmail her, so she didn't have any other choice.

Well, that last part wasn't completely true, she could have chosen not to go to breakfast, but Kitty always made a hell of a Christmas breakfast, and she didn't want to worry her about Jackie's living situation. She figured Kitty had too much to worry about already.

Jackie sighed in relief as the Forman's house came into view. She could see Hyde on the driveway, leaning against his car. Great, she had to deal with him this early. She slowed down to a stop when she finally reached the driveway.

"Took you long enough." Hyde grunted.

"Excuse me?" Jackie tried to catch her breath.

"Mrs. Forman didn't want to start serving breakfast without you."

"But I didn't tell her I was coming over." she replied in confusion.

Hyde raised an eyebrow at her as if it was all the explanation that she needed. Okay— it was. That sneak. But that couldn't mean… "Wait, you didn't tell-"

"No, I told you I wouldn't." Hyde looked offended. "I just said you've been having breakfast alone because your dad leaves too early."

"Oh," Jackie sighed in relief. "Okay. Is everyone else there right now?"

"Yeah, the morons are there. We better get inside before they start eating the table."

Jackie and Hyde entered the kitchen and froze when everyone stopped what they were doing to gawk at them. Jackie looked at Hyde for an explanation but he looked just as confused as she was. The only person who ignored their entrance was Red, naturally. And, just as naturally, it was Kitty who broke the silence.

"Oh, how wonderful! Steven and Jackie are back together!" Kitty explained.

"Mrs. Forman, me and Jackie aren't back together." Hyde glanced at Jackie apologetically and proceeded to take a seat next to Eric who was still staring. "Forman, if you don't stop gawking, I'm gonna poke your eyes out."

That seemed to have done it for Eric and everyone, because he glanced at his mother and asked for breakfast.

"Eric, not now." Kitty scolded. "There are more important things going on in my kitchen! Like Jackie and Steven's reunion."

"Mrs. Forman, me and Steven aren't dating again." Jackie chuckled awkwardly. "He just happened to be outside when I arrived so we went in together."

"Yeah, but you two don't do anything together anymore." Fez piped in. "Jackie, it is a bad idea. Don't set your self up for a trap with this son of a bitch!"

"Fez!" Kitty scolded.

"I said son of a bitch!" Fez exclaimed before storming out of the kitchen.

"Uh…" Eric looked up to his mother again. "So, can we have breakfast now?"

Kitty sighed in disapproval but started to prepared the food anyway. Jackie looked around and took a seat next to Red.

"Hey, Steven, I thought you said everyone was here?" she looked at Hyde who plopped to a seat next to her.

"I said the the morons are here." Hyde reminded her.

"Wow, Hyde. The Christmas spirit really is rubbing off on you." Eric said sarcastically as he stifled a yawn.

"Forman, shut up, will you?"

"If you dumbasses don't shut you trap," Red put his paper down to give them a stern look, "You all are gonna have a festive foot stuck in ass this morning."

"Okay, who wants waffles and hot cocoa?" Kitty announced, giggling cheerfully.

As if on cue, Fez appeared in the kitchen with a wild, yet apologetic look on his face. "Ms. Kitty, I am sorry for acting like an animal in the wild. Some of the traits from my native country are still inside of me. May I please have some of your yummy chocolate waffles?"

* * *

"Steven, will you be a dear please and get some eggs and ham in the groceries for me?" Kitty asked.

"Sure, Mrs. Forman." Hyde readily agreed and got up.

Jackie always found it endearing that Hyde had a special place in his heart for Mrs. Forman. He will never admit it, but after dating him for two years, she learned a few things about him that other people will never know or notice. When they were together, she would sometimes get jealous of how Hyde was so openly sweet to his mother figure. She wished he didn't have such a hard time expressing his feelings to Jackie.

"Hey, man, I'll come along!" Eric said. "Maybe we can stop by the mall to pick up presents for our Secret Santa and mom."

"Oh, Eric, that's so sweet of you!" Kitty chuckled and rushed over to plant a peck on Eric's face.

"Ms. Kitty, he is just threatened because Hyde is the favourite now that my ex wife is gone." Fez grinned and went to stand next to Hyde. "I'm coming also, I need to start on my Christmas shopping."

"No, that's not true!" Eric frowned. "Right, mom?"

Jackie watched in amusement as Kitty started to laugh nervously and left the room to escape Eric's questioning glare.

"I'll take that as a yes." Eric declared.

Jackie looked unimpressed but laughed, "Oh, hey, where's Donna?"

"M'lady is spending time with her dad next door." Eric replied, thinking he looked suave.

"Ew, Eric." Jackie's nose scrunched up in disgust. "Stop doing that when the lumberjack isn't around."

"Yeah, Forman, nobody wants to see that." Hyde said.

"Ugh, my wish Christmas wish is for you two not to get back together." Eric shook his head slowly. "So you both would just leave ME ALONE!"

"Eric, stop being twitchy it is Christmas." Fez frowned. "Now can we go?"

"Yeah, get your asses outside." Hyde ordered. The two boys giddily exited the room which left him and Jackie alone. "You coming or not?"

"No, it's okay. I think I'll keep Mrs. Forman company. Be safe driving though and make sure to get me something!" Jackie said as Hyde scoffed and waved goodbye. "Remember I like 'em really pink, and really shiny!"

She smiled in satisfaction and got up to look for Kitty in the front room.

"Mrs. Forman?" Jackie called. "Mrs. Forman, you here?"

Kitty slowly crept down the stairs and whispered loudly, "Are they gone now?"

"Yeah," she replied slowly. "What are you doing, Mrs. Forman? Oh- is it your menopause again?"

"Jackie!" Kitty looked insulted. "Well, you shut your dirty little mouth! It's Christmas!"

Jackie flashed her a sheepish look as she followed who Kitty walked past her to the kitchen.

"Why don't you make yourself useful, Jackie dear, and help me clean up?"

"Uh.. I don't.." Jackie started but when she got a good look of all the dirty plates and utensils, she sighed. "Okay, but I'm not getting my hands too dirty!"

"I don't mind, honestly. I'm just glad someone's helping me clean up. I mean, Red just disappeared!" Kitty said as she carefully placed the dirty plates she collected in the dish washer.

"Oh yeah, where is Mr. Forman?" Jackie collected the last of dirty dishes there was and looked around, only realising that Red was gone. That would explain the absence of low grunting. She placed them inside the washer too, and let Kitty work the machine.

"Oh, he sneaked into the garage so he won't have to help me clean." Kitty explained with a sigh. "Jackie, do you want to help me make Christmas cookies? I'll even let you help me pick the f-"

"Will you really let me help you this time, Mrs. Forman?" Jackie squealed excitedly.

"Yes, honey, just don't.. Don't go near the microwave this time." Kitty laughed nervously and began taking out the ingredients they needed for making cookies.

"Okay, are we making pink Christmas tree cookies, or green ones with those small silver pearls you put on them?"

"Actually, I was thinking of making snowman cookies, hooray!" Kitty clapped as she handed Jackie the recipe book.

"Mrs. Forman, can we at least make the scarves pink since I'm helping?" Jackie pleaded while reading the recipe.

"Okay, but only because it's Christmas." Kitty replied and began mixing the batter in a big bowl. "Here, just mix it like this, while I clean up a little bit more."

"Yay!" Jackie giggled and took the bowl from her. "Oh, do you know where Michael is? He never misses breakfast, especially one of your festive ones."

"Steven said he was spending the day with Brooke and Betsy today." Kitty said as she scrubbed the dining table. "Speaking of Steven…."

Jackie tensed when she heard Kitty laughing in intrigue and excitement. Kitty had been prodding the two of them to get back together every since Sam had left, and was the only one who could joke about Jackie and Hyde's relationship because Hyde wouldn't threaten her.

"Me and Steven aren't back together, Mrs. Forman." Jackie repeated for the second time.

"Sure," Kitty giggled. "It's Christmas, and the Christmas spirit has a way of making things extra special during the most wonderful time of the year!"

"I'm serious, Mrs. Forman." Jackie frowned as she continued mixing the batter. "Maybe Steven and I are talking again, but that's it, and everything's over between us. I mean all I wanted was a sign of commitment from him, and he couldn't even give me that _then_ he proceeded to get married to someone else."

"Oh, Jackie." Kitty went over and took the bowl from Jackie's hands before she hugged her softly. "You know Steven just doesn't know how to handle relationships— I mean, he has a horrible example from both of his awful, awful parents! But I really think you and him are meant to be. I've never seen him truly happy, and, well, you changed for the better because of him."

Jackie hesitated but leaned in to Kitty's hug and said honestly, "We're trying to be friends again, but I don't know what to do because I'm scared he's gonna hurt me again somehow, and I miss him, Mrs. Forman. I know that's weird because I see him everyday, but I do."

"N'aww, sweetie, I understand." Kitty put a hand on her arm to comfort her. "It's gonna be okay, Steven's not gonna hurt you anymore, and everything's gonna be fine. Just… just take one step at a time, okay?"

Jackie and Kitty stayed like that for awhile as she basked in Kitty's effort to comfort her. She really wished she had her for a mom instead of Pam. "Oh, there's Mr. Forman!"

Just as Kitty turned to look over, she saw her husband tiptoe-ing back to the garage having seen what was going on in the kitchen.

"Oh, Red."

* * *

Hyde, Eric and Fez returned from shopping presents and groceries an hour after Kitty and Jackie had finished baking. She went on and on about how she didn't mess up the cookies that they baked this time, contrary to popular belief. The baked goods were gone in no time because they rest of the gang started eating them while Jackie told them an animated story of how she spent one of her Christmases when she was a little girl.

Donna come by in the afternoon with Bob, who entered the room in a red, flashy jacket as he greeted the group a jolly, "Hey there, Hi there, _Ho_ _ho ho_ there!" They continued on exchanging stories casually until Red kicked them out of the kitchen. _"Have a gathering on your own damn kitchen, for Christ's sakes! What are your own damn houses for? Dumbasses."_

Bob went home after that, and that was how they all ended up in the basement with three empty plates of sandwiches.

"Hey, it's getting pretty late, you guys. I have to go home." Jackie declared as she slung there bag over her shoulders.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Donna waved at her and cozied up next to Eric on the couch.

Eric and Fez both nodded in her direction as a sign of goodbye.

"Hey, wait up." Hyde, who had his feet on the table and arms crossed, lazily stood up. "Let me walk you out."

"What, since when are you walking Jackie home again?" Donna asked curiously, flashing Jackie a look that meant she'd have to answer a few questions as soon as Donna gets her alone.

"Okay, seriously you guys, are you hooking up again?" Eric asked.

"No, Erica, we're not. Stop gossiping."

"Steven, you don't have to.." Jackie said, her hand on the knob,

Hyde took notice of what she said and prodded her to start walking out. Once they were out of the room and everyone's earshot he said, "Jackie, you're alone at home, and you won't let me tell anyone about your living situation. I'm pretty sure you're not gonna let me crash in your couch tonight. I just wanted to remind you of our deal, alright? Christmas, Jacks, if your father doesn't spend Christmas with you, I'm telling Mrs. Forman."

"I know, I know." Jackie studied his face for a minute and asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"I dunno. It's Christmas."

" _O-_ kay." Jackie replied, not at all buying what he just said. "Well, I'm gonna go now. So.. Good luck explaining to everyone what you had to say to me. Go easy on Eric."

"Yeah, right." Hyde let out a chuckle. "Call when you get home, alright?"

"Alright. Goodnight, Steven." Jackie smiled and turned to walk to her house.

* * *

The walk to her house didn't take her that long.

It gave her a little bit of time to think about the events that happened that day. She and Hyde didn't fight a single time today! She smiled at the thought and hugged herself as she continued walking. So they _were_ capable of being civil towards each other. Was this what it was like to be friends with him?

The short conversation she had with Kitty also stayed in her mind.

 _"Steven's not gonna hurt you anymore, and everything's gonna be fine. Take one step at a time."_ She had said. Jackie will try and not to worry about it, she guessed that Kitty was probably right. Well, she was most of the time, anyway. There was no point in dwelling over things she didn't have any control of, not now, at least.

Jackie let herself focus on the stars that were shining on the sky instead. It reminded her of Christmas nights with Hyde, but she clenched her eyes shut and shook her head as if doing so would make the memories go away.

She loved walking in the snow particularly at night. Everything was more beautiful, in her opinion, as the houses were covered in bright, twinkly lights. Jackie looked and inspected at each of the house's decorations, grinning wider and wider as she reached a new house. They were so mesmerising, and it made her feel like a kid again.

Her smile dropped when she reached her house. It had no Christmas lights or any decorations at all, for that matter. Jackie had already bugged her dad multiple times to get someone to put at least a star-shaped lantern on their front gate, but he kept saying he'd do it _later._ She didn't know when the hell "later" was, but she learned growing up not to get her hopes up about things like that. It used to be her mom who took care of how the house looked, anyway— or well, she hired someone to put decorations on their house, whether it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. She should've known their house would look the festive out of everyone's now that her mother had gone MIA.

She quickly slipped inside the empty house, and this time, made sure to leave a few of the lights on. She checked the clock and hummed in pleasure when she realised she had time to take a long, hot shower and write in her journal. She rushed to the bathroom to pamper herself and entered her room forty minutes later feeling cleaner and fresher than ever.

Speaking of her journal, where the hell was it? Jackie groaned as she opened the drawers of her cabinet. It wasn't on her bedside table, where could it be? Before she could get on all fours to check under her bed, the phone rang. It's 10 in the evening, who could that be?

"Hello?" Jackie said when she picked up the phone.

_"Jackie, what the hell, I told you to call when you got home!"_

"Wha- sorry, I completely forgot!I went straight to the bathroom to take a shower, and then I had to do my skin care routine, and _then_ \- Hello? Steven, are you there?"

 _"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Jackie. It thought something happened to you, man." he tsked_.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay?" Jackie sighed and brought her phone to bed. Calling really did slip her mind, and she didn't even expect that he would be waiting for her call. Maybe… no. No, she was not about to do this to herself. Not tonight, especially not when she's on the phone with him.

_"Whatever. By any chance is Jack there tonight?"_

"No, my dad's sleeping over in his office again." she replied. "Why?"

_"Nothing." There was a pause before he spoke up again, "Okay, I'm gonna hit the sack now. Eat breakfast here tomorrow if you want, alright? Good-"_

"NO! Wait- wait, Steven," Jackie exclaimed hesitantly. "Can you… can you stay on the phone with me until I fall asleep? It would be nice to pretend I'm not alone in the house for once."

_"Oh." He cleared his throat, " Okay. That's cool._

"Thanks, Steven." Jackie smiled gratefully. "'Night."

She stifled a yawn and placed her head on one of her pillows, turning to her side so she could face the phone. Jackie couldn't help but smile when she closed her eyes . He was still looking out after her. She considered getting up to search for her missing journal, but she was already too comfortable in her bed— the static and the low rising and falling of breaths from the other line lulling her to sleep . She would just have to look for it some other time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, you guys. How's everyone? I'm trying to update faster than usual, because it's the second week of December and this story is only on Day 6. I realised that this pic has too many things going on. I hope it;s not a handful for everyone to read, but please do, do leave comments because it motivates me to write more, and also I really do want to know your thoughts on the scenes. Feel free to send me a PM too, if you want to chat!


	7. Day 7

Jackie had woken up to the sound of birds pecking her bedroom window.

She stifled a yawn and stretched out her limbs before opening her eyes. The sunlight peeked through her window and onto the floor. Was it her or did today seem better than the past few days already?

It took her one.. Two.. Three seconds before remembering what had happened last night.

Jackie had always been a light sleeper, and that was why waking up in the middle of the night was usual for her.

Two times, three, maybe four times, then she would get up and get a glass of water before going back to sleep. Normally, she would be grumpy whenever she would be awakened, but last night was different.

Jackie had willingly yet nervously opened one of her eyelids before grabbing the phone that was left near her pillow. She would press the phone to her ear to check whether Hyde was still on the line, and when she had heard the familiar rising and falling of his breath, a satisfied smile would slowly form on her lips as she drifted back to sleep.

She felt pathetic, but Jackie had pushed the feeling away as it was honestly the best sleep she had had for days, which was weird considering the fact that she was pretty sure she had woken up at least once every hour the past night.

She she shifted her body, suddenly turning extremely giddy for an early morning. Her hand reached for the phone slowly and breathed softly on the phone, "Hello?"

Jackie waited for a few moments but she was answered by soft snores coming from the other line. She turned again to lie on her back, a smile yet again plastered on her face, and placed the phone on her chest.

She closed her eyes and decided to go back to sleep. If someone would walk in on her at that exact moment, they would probably tell her that she looked like a nut because it seemed as if she was pretending that she was sleeping with _him._ It's okay, she thought, she was just feeling sleepy, and she was just tired. Maybe she like hugging phones, it could be her weird quirk that nobody knew.

* * *

"God, I am _so_ bored!" Jackie groaned exasperatedly to the group.

The group (minus Kelso as he was spending time with Betsy and Brooke again) were staring at the television screen with blank expressions on their faces. It was the fifth time that Rudolph's Shiny New Nose was shown in the past two days, but they had nothing to do so they sat through the whole thing again so they could pass time.

"See, I have told everyone that we could go carol singing, but what did you do?" Fez's eyebrows furrowed. "Nothing! Because no one listens to Fez!"

"Fez," Donna tried to reason out with him but Fez had already turned his back on her.

"I am upset now, so, if you will excuse me, I will go upstairs to get some of Ms. Kitty's delicious cookies to make me feel better."

"Aw, Fez, come back!" Jackie called but Fez had quickly escaped the basement to go to the kitchen.

The door suddenly slammed opened, making the everyone turn their heads sharply to to its direction. Kelso was there panting, wearing a bulky, navy blue coat. His hair was disheveled and he had a wild look on his eyes. Jackie exchanged knowing looks with the group— they all knew that usually meant Kelso had one of his poorly crafted ideas.

"There you guys are!" Kelso grinned widely as he took a seat on a chair. "I've been looking all over for you guys!"

"Really?" Eric laughed. "Where?"

Kelso ignored him and continued speaking, "I spent the day with Brooke yesterday and I realised that I was in love with her!"

Jackie sucked the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing when she found everyone looking unmoved, apart from Hyde who started laughing five seconds after Kelso made his announcement.

"Wha- Hyde! Why are you laughin'? None of this is funny!" Kelso looked insulted and looked at Jackie for help.

"Um, " Jackie cleared her throat to hold back a chuckle. "Yeah, Steven. Leave Michael alone!"

"Kelso, are you sure about this?" Eric looked at him eagerly. "Are you really, really sure about your feelings this time— I mean, you don't have such a good track record about these kind of things. Maybe you just think she's really hot. You know what I think? I think you should think about this more. Just to be sure."

Donna and Jackie looked at Eric in disbelief. She was pretty sure Eric knew what was going on. Why the hell was he trying to make him rethink his feelings? That was so unlike him, and Donna seemed to think so too because she slapped Eric on his shoulders making him wince.

Hyde rolled his eyes at Jackie without any malice and slowly stopped from laughing. "Quit it, Esmeralda. Stop whining and hand over my 30 bucks."

"Wait, what's that for?" Donna asked suspiciously.

"We had a bet on when Kelso was going to bump his head and realise that he still had the hots for Brooke. I called before Christmas and Forman placed his bet on New Year's eve. Fez betted after Christmas. I won, so pay up."

"Wait a second, you had a bet about when I was going to realise I was still in love with Brooke?" Kelso frowned at Hyde and Eric.

"Yup."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Uh!" Kelso gave a high pitched screech. "I cannot believe you guys had a bet about me and didn't even tell me about it. I wanna bet too!"

"Kelso, you can't join the bet because we're betting about you, you moron." Hyde shook his head.

"But that's exactly the reason why! I never win anything and if I joined the bet, that will increase my chances of winnin'!"

"That's really not how bets work, Kelso." Donna laughed and shifted in her seat as Eric suddenly dashed to the stairs. "Hey! Where are you going, Eric?!"

"He's trying to escape me." Hyde replied to her as he chased after Eric. "I'll get you, Forman!"

"Wait, I wanna play tag too!" Kelso called after them and turned to the two girls who were left in their seats. "I really just wanna see Hyde kick Eric's ass in the snow, sorry, Donna."

Jackie and Donna watched as Kelso ran after their friends. Sometimes she wondered if they would ever stop bickering like kids. Probably not.

"I don't think this was what John and Yoko meant when they said, _Happy Christmas (War is Over)"_ Jackie flipped her hair over her shoulder when she turned to Donna.

"You know John and Yoko?" Donna smiled playfully at her.

"Shut up, Donna." Jackie scowled at her. She always hated it when Donna jokes with her about stuff like that. She knew that Donna was just playing with her, but it really gets on Jackie's nerves.

"I'm just joking." Donna laughed as she moved to the edge of the couch to get closer to Jackie. "Well, they did say if you want it."

"What?" Jackie's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"John and Yoko." Donna answered. "It's a lyric from the song you just said."

"Oh. I knew that." Jackie muttered and diverted her focus on the television.

It was quiet for awhile before Donna spoke up again, "So, what's going on with you and Hyde? Mrs. Forman told me you guys were dating again."

"Oh my God, no, I told Mrs. Forman that me and Steven were only hanging out, not dating." Jackie dropped her face on her palm. "We just have had enough fighting. It's Christmas, and it's a perfectly good holiday to stop fighting. All the burns are making my head hurt."

"But Jackie, the last time you and Hyde stopped fighting was when you started seeing each other." Donna said. "And then you got together and you continued fighting. Are you sure you guys can stop?"

"Well," Jackie pursed her lips as she processed what Donna had just said. "I think what this means is, no more bringing up the past to hurt each other. I think. I don't know, I'm tired"

Donna squinted her eyes at Jackie before pointing an accusatory finger at her, "You still love him!"

"No, no, I don't!" Jackie replied almost immediately, wide eyed. "I do _not!_ "

"You so do!" Donna grinned and chuckled. "It's okay, I'll keep quiet about it. Since I'm a good best friend, and you're my best friend. "

"I do _not_ love Steven, Donna." Jackie tried to hide a smile when she saw Donna with her eyebrows raised trying to act nonchalant. "But, yes, thank you for being a great best friend."

"An even better one than Brooke?"

"God, Donna, what is it with you and titles?" Jackie joked and was playfully smacked on the arm by Donna. "Hey! No hitting! Your giant, lumberjack hands will leave a mark on my body and I don't want any unevenness on my skin."

"Alright, sorry! But, Jackie, seriously." Donna frowned and looked at Jackie.

"You're jealous of Brooke, aren't you?" Jackie grinned. She was enjoying this too much. Donna was rarely clingy, and Jackie wanted to milk the situation as much as she could.

"Okay, maybe I am." Donna admitted.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry but I don't swing that way." Jackie replied. "I think you're good looking for a red head, though."

"Jackie!"

"I'm sorry, I was just joking!" Jackie laughed. "Okay, seriously, Donna. I don't know what you want me to say. Brooke's my best friend too, I mean, she was there when you were busy chopping up wood with the whore. I didn't have anyone to turn to but Fez, and her and Michael were all I had."

"Yeah, okay." Donna sighed. "Yeah, that's true. I guess I deserved that."

"You're more like a sister to me," Jackie smiled. "An ugly step sister, but you know, at least you're still a sister."

Donna's jaw drop and tried hitting Jackie playfully again, "Will you stop it?"

"Come on, let's see what they're doing upstairs." Jackie squealed and pulled her hand towards the stairs, her heart feeling more and more whole by the second.

* * *

"So, now that the gang is complete. I will be announcing something again!" Kelso stood up and clasped his hands together. "I have decided to win Brooke back! I'm usually good at these things by myself, but Brooke doesn't seem to get affected by my good looks unless we're in a concert, so I'm gonna need help from you guys."

"Why would we help you?" Hyde raised an inquisitive brow.

"So that I don't embarrass myself in front of Brooke!"

"Why wouldn't we want that to happen?"

"Steven!" Jackie scolded.

Hyde snickered and put both his hands up in surrender. "I'm just messing with ya, man. We'll make sure you'll have a fool proof plan that won't burn down the Forman's house."

"We will come up with different ideas to help you." Fez agreed while he slurped on his popsicle.

"Thanks, man!" Kelso grinned. "But, uh, Fez here said he saw hot chicks by The Hub, so I'll catch you guys later."

"What, but I thought you love Brooke?" Donna asked.

"I do, but we're not together yet." Kelso replied. "Come on, little buddy, we can device a plan there while watching hot babes in santa outfits."

"Adios, my American friends! Me and Kelso will go look for sexy Mrs. Clauses."

The door closed behind Kelso and Fez, and Jackie turned to the group and exhaled. "God, I am _so-"_

"Yeah, yeah, we know. You're bored." Hyde got up to change the channel on the television and stopped when George Bailey flashed on the screen, about to jump the bridge. "There, how's about that, huh? You like this, don't you? Will ya quit yapping now?"

Jackie smiled genuinely at him, unfazed by what he just said. Most people would mistake his tone and choice of words for something bad, but Jackie knew him. Hyde was a really thoughtful and sweet person. Those who were closest to him had the privilege of knowing and experiencing that. He knew that Jackie completely adored _It's a Wonderful Life._

"Thank you, Steven." she smiled sincerely. "That's really sweet of you."

Hyde grunted in response. "By the way, I was wondering if I could talk to you in private, Jackie."

Donna flashed Jackie a wide knowing grin and said, "Hey, Eric, let's go check if there are freshly baked cookies upstairs left. I saw Mrs. Forman make some earlier.

"Alright," Eric replied. "After you, m'lady." He turned to Donna and whispered, "You'll find out what this is about after we leave, right?"

"Eric!" Donna took Eric's hand and pulled him out of sight.

"Well, we're in private now." Jackie glanced at Hyde. "What did you wanna talk about?"

"Actually, I, uh, I have something for you." He got up, not giving Jackie a chance to say anything, and went to his room.

Jackie sat patiently on the couch giddily waiting for Hyde's return. She wondered what it could be. Maybe it was some kind of self defence weapon. That seemed like something Hyde would give her, and it probably wasn't that pricey.

Just then, Kitty showed up holding a plate of cookies with a big smile on her face. "Hello, Jackie! I brought you and Steven some cookies because Donna and Eric didn't want to come down and give you some."

"Oh, that's wonderful, Mrs. Forman!" Jackie smiled. "I'm sure Ste-"

"If you tell anyone about this, Jackie, I'm gonna-" Hyde emerged from his room with a big stuffed lion in his hands, stopping in his tracks as soon as he saw Kitty. "Oh, crap."

The three of them said nothing. Poor Hyde looked like he was just about ready to drop the stuffed animal to the ground and lock himself in his room for the remainder of the year. Jackie was too shocked to say anything. Was Hyde really about to give her a stuffed toy? If this was what being friends with him meant, she wanted to be his best friend! Her heart was pounding hard, and she was pretty sure that she was blushing scarlet. Kitty, on the other hand, looked like she was crouching, as a smile slowly wormed its way to her face. Her laugh broke the silence. Kitty placed the plate of cookies on the table, still laughing, and made her way upstairs without even a word to either of them.

"Um," Jackie began. "So, that was…"

"Here take it with you, I thought you might like it." Hyde threw the stuffed animal to her, refusing to meet her eyes. "I need a smoke."

Jackie stared at him as he walked out on her for the third time that day. She felt something tug at her heart as she clutched the stuffed animal tighter. Donna couldn't be right, could she? It was already established that, okay, this was probably the same thing she experienced before. This could be the leftover feelings people get with their ex boyfriends, so it was natural and not serious. It would go away eventually, right?

Donna reappeared by the stairs, her eyes glinting with malice at the sight of the stuffed animal in Jackie's arms.

"Shut your piehole, Donna!"Jackie cried defensively.

"Shut my piehole, huh?" Donna grinned, "Haven't heard you say that in awhile."

Jackie ignored her comment and said firmly, "It's just a friendly gesture!"

"Mm-hmm," Donna smiled as she made her way over, and took a seat next to Jackie so she could inspect the stuffed lion. "Keep telling yourself that."

 _I so will,_ Jackie thought bitterly to herself. She had to.

* * *

The phone didn't ring that night, but Jackie slept with her favourite new stuffed toy given by the most thoughtful man she had ever known, so, she thought, that night wasn't so bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Author's Note: Hey guys, how are you doing? I struggled a lot with this chapter, so I'm sorry if it isn't that good. I promise to make it up to everyone in the succeeding days. I just finished plotting what was gonna happen until Christmas for the gang, and I hope everyone will like it. I also just realised that this story isn't really as festive as I want it to be, but I hope that's fine. Maybe I'll come up with a short oneshot that'll be really festive for you guys!
> 
> Special thanks to Marie_J_Granger for pointing out the thing with Jackie's father's job. I'll clean it up along the way, and will probably do some editing on the past chapters too. And of course to dear Prissy, nannygirl, thanks for helping me out and being extremely supportive and nice, your words really do mean the world to me.
> 
> As always, thank you to those who have been leaving reviews and marking this story as a favourite, and following it too. It means a lot to me!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Day 7**

**11:37PM**

**Jackie's Bedroom**

Jackie had to pry her eyes open when she was woken up to the sound of the phone ringing. Half-asleep and not totally aware of what was going on, her hand inched its way to where the telephone was, picking it up with a groan.

"Hello?" she croaked.

_"Shit, were you sleeping?" There was a pregnant pause and then,"It's me."_

Hearing his voice felt like somebody had poured a bucket of cold water over her head. She was suddenly wide awake. "Oh. Hey, Steven. Um, yeah, actually. Did you want anything? I didn't leave anything at the basement again, did I?"

_"Nah," he said, "I just thought I'd call to check on ya."_

A smiled curved up her lips, "I'm fine, Steven. I'm.."

She couldn't stop the yawn that fought its way out of her mouth.

_"Sleepy." he finished for her. "I'll see ya tomorrow, man. Get some sleep. G'Night."_

"Um, yes, of course, sure! Goodnight." Jackie bit her lip. She wanted to tell him to stay on the line again, but she felt that would be pushing her luck (which was what she promised herself that she wouldn't do). She kept the phone on her ear until she realised that she didn't hear the dial tone. Did that mean…

"Er- hello?" she tried, keeping her voice even.

_"Yeah?" he answered._

"Nothing, I just… nothing."

_"Oh." A sniffing sound. "Okay."_

"Okay."

Ten minutes later, Jackie was still wide awake. She could hear shuffling noises on the other end of the line, he was still definitely awake. They had said their goodnight, right? She wasn't imagining things, was she? She tried to shake off the thoughts that were swimming around her head. Was she supposed to say anything to him? God, she was so confused and nervous. He still made her _so_ nervous.

This was ridiculous.

After a few moments, she decided that staying up to question things she had no interest in even asking out loud was pointless. Jackie rolled over to her side, very careful to not move the phone.

She'll just have to deal with this tomorrow. For tonight, she will enjoy the company Hyde was giving her over the phone, albeit with silence. She just needed someone to be there for her.

* * *

**Day 8**

**9:23AM**

**Jackie's Bedroom**

Jackie cursed under her breath when she realized that she still haven't bought anything for Donna as a part of their Secret Santa arrangement. Might as well get something now before the mall gets even more crowded than they already are. It was still early in the morning, anyway, she would have plenty of time to hang out in the basement afterward if she hurried up.

She dressed quickly, deciding to wear a green Christmas sweater that would look good with the hoop earrings she saw by her drawer. Before leaving the door, she made one last look at her room and her vision zoomed in to a small thing that sat atop her neatly folded bed— the pink telephone.

_Steven._

She fell asleep without any trouble the night before. She really did miss him. She groaned internally, _great._ Maybe she should start hating the holidays too. Jackie was pretty freaking sure it was because it was Christmas time that she was missing Hyde even more than she usually would. People did say something about being emotional on holidays, didn't they?

Jackie got in her car and slammed the door with such amazing force that made her jump. As she drove away, Donna's words echoed through her brain unwelcomely, just like a pimple would be on her smooth, perfect face.

_"You still love him!"_

She was officially, festively screwed.

* * *

**Day 8**

**12:35PM**

**Forman's Basement**

"Fez," Kelso clasped his hands together with a big grin on his face, "is a _genius,_ you guys!"

Jackie was playing Monopoly with Hyde, Eric and Donna when Kelso and Fez barged in the room, jittering with excitement.

"Oh?" Hyde said with an amused smirk on his face. "Why's that?"

"Okay, so remember how yesterday me and Fez went to The Hub to hang out?"

"If by hanging out you mean ogle at girls during the Yuletide season, then, yes." Eric deadpanned, which Donna laughed to in response.

Kelso ignored them and continued, "Okay well, Fez was asking me what my favourite thing was about Christmas, and of course I answered Santa, and he looked at me like I was crazy and said to me, "No, Kelso, you idiot! It is the bigger possibility to kiss the girls." , and then it hit me, there was one thing missing all along!"

"Yup, this already sounds like it's gonna go down all wrong." Hyde flashed everyone a mischievous smile. "Guys, we better get our protective equipment and the fire extinguisher before Dumb and Dumber burn down the house."

"Hyde, stop being a pooper of parties, what I have come up was brilliant." Fez scolded at him. "Show these sons of bitches what it is, Kelso!"

Kelso produced five mistletoes out of the paper bag he was holding, gave one to each of the group and smiled at Fez. "Yeah, what do you guys think, huh? Fool proof enough, if you ask me!"

"Yeah," Hyde said, putting down the mistletoe on the table. "Unless she says no."

"Yeah, why don't you just tell her how you feel over dinner or something?" Donna suggested. "I'm pretty sure Brooke's gonna appreciate that."

"But I had it all planned out, see— she's gonna come down here, I'll pull her under a mistletoe, confess my undying love before kissing her under these things!" he explained. "It's the perfect plan!"

"That is right." Fez grinned. "Now, if you'll excuse us, me and Kelso are gonna be putting various mistletoes around the house. Good day!"

"But Fez," Eric began to ask, only to get cut off by Fez.

"I said good day!"

~

Kelso and Fez were passed out on the couch from trying to find good spots to put the mistletoes in.

As Kelso stretched and unconsciously put his arm over Fez's face, Jackie giggled. She was doing Donna's hair to pass time.

"Hey, Donna." Jackie nudged her with her knee. "Look at them."

"I know!" Donna grinned as a chuckle escaped her mouth. "I hope Mrs. Forman catches them like that so we can have a souvenir."

"It's gonna look so good in Christmas cards!" Jackie laughed in agreement. Donna wriggled in her seat earning her a sharp yank of her hair.

"Jackie ow!"

"Stop moving, you lumberjack, I'm here over the goodness of my heart, trying to make you as pretty as you can possibly be _("Jackie!")_ and you keep sabotaging me because you can't sit still!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, sheesh." Donna replied with a sigh.

"You know what? You put me out of my mood. I'll get me a pop and check if Mrs. Forman still has some of those brownies or cookies left." Jackie announced. "While I'm gone try practicing not to squirm in your seat. See, this is why you weren't popular back in school."

"What-"

"Uh-uh, Donna!" Jackie raised her eyebrows at Donna and stood up. "I'll be back, okay? Stay."

Jackie didn't give her time to reply and practically skipped up the stairs. Things were going slower than usual today, but it had been a while since she spent that much time with Donna, so she's not one to complain.

She entered a kitchen and, of course, Hyde was sitting alone at the table reading some sort of music magazine.

"Oh, hey." Hyde said as he noticed her entrance.

"Steven" Jackie smiled sheepishly. _Ah crap,_ she wasn't about to turn into a spluttering mess again, was she? "Hey, where's Mrs. Forman?"

"She went to the hospital for a check up with Red." he explained as he got up his seat.

"Oh, heh, okay." Jackie gulped and went to open the fridge instead.

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh, uh, just some cookies and brownies."

"In the fridge?"

"Yeah, why not? You know, cold cookies are-" Jackie jumped back when she felt him grab her by her arm. "Steven!" she whacked him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Jackie will you wait moving around, I wanna talk to you about something." Hyde said, pulling her away from the fridge.

"What?" she replied in panic.

"Would you calm down, Jackie?"

"Well, I'm sorry, okay. The last few days with you have been really nice, but really weird and new and I'm kind of lost, alright?" she sighed as she made her way over to the counter. "Can you just- can we make it quick because Donna's waiting for me downstairs."

"Alright listen, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for running out on you like that yesterday. I think it's Forman rubbing off on me…"

"Uh huh." Jackie wasn't really paid attention to him as her focus was on the small plant that dangled above his head. Was this really happening to her?

"Jackie, are you even listening to me?" Hyde asked as she followed her gaze and saw the mistletoe. "Oh."

"Um." She cleared her throat. "Yeah, um, Steven, I really gotta go to D-"

She was silenced by his lips being pressed to hers. Jackie could feel her eyelids closing as Hyde cupped her face softly, she let herself kiss him back. The feel of his lips on hers made her heart ache with pain. She missed this so much. She missed him.

When they broke apart, Jackie willed herself too look at him. He was staring at her with a soft and pained look on his eyes and he looked like was about to say something, but she didn't have the guts to hear it. Not right now.

"I can't." Jackie croaked. "I can't do this."

"Jackie, wait-"

She ran back down the stairs, completely freaked out. _God dammit._ This was not supposed to happen, and she was supposed to be zen about this whole freakin' thing.

When she got back to the basement, she paused in front of the two boys still sleeping soundly on the couch.

"Ugh, this is all your fault!" Jackie cried and whacked them both awake with a pillow.

"Jackie, what's going on?!" Donna asked, the surprise in her voice was evident.

"Ai!"

"Ow, Jackie, can you stop it with the hittin'!"

"No!" she growled as she continued to smack them.

"Ow-" Fez cried as he tried to dodge Jackie and turned to Kelso. "Kelso, what did we do? Jackie is turning all red."

"I don't- _ow!-_ I don't know, man, she's going crazy!"

"What's going on?" Donna tried again as she pulled a squirming Jackie away form their two cowering friends.

"Nothing!" Jackie turned to her and said, "I'm going home."

"But I thought you were doing my hair?" Donna asked in confusion.

"Can't it wait till tomorrow, Donna? Everything doesn't have to be about you!" she huffed and ran out of the basement, leaving three of her friends glued to their spot, clearly very confused.

For a person who didn't like running, she was doing plenty of that today.

Okay, so she spent the rest of the day moping around her room, so what?

Jackie thought she deserved a little break. She dialed Donna's number as soon as she got home to apologise. They were gonna have a sleepover the next night at Jackie's house with Brooke. She figured it was okay to tell them that her father was just out of town for business for a night so no one would think she was alone, and no one would worry about her.

She was on the bed with her body splayed across it and she touched her lips with her fingers. The feeling of his lips were still ghosting over hers. Her hand snatched Seth, the stuffed lion Hyde had given her the day before that she had named just a few minutes ago, and stared at it hard.

"Why are you doing this?" she groaned and put the stuffed animal on top of her face to muffle her long, frustrated scream.

The phone started ringing as soon as she stopped. She tossed Seth to the side and pleaded silently for the caller to be anyone but him.

"Hello?"

_"Hey, Jackie."_

_Ah crap._

"Steven, I don't think we should-"

_"No, no we don't have to talk. I just, uh," he cleared his throat. "I just wanted to hear your voice."_

"Oh." Jackie said, stunned. "Um, okay."

_"I'll stay on the line if you want me to."_

"Thanks, Steven."

_"Yep."_

Jackie went back to laying down, this time she was getting ready for bed. How could she be so stupid? This is what she gets for being in denial and not being honest to Donna or Brooke when they previously asked her.

Yes, okay, she did love Hyde. She never stopped loving Hyde, whatever, who cares? It wasn't like it was going to change anything between them, right?

"Goodnight, Steven."

_"Goodnight."_

She placed the phone near her pillow and reached for Seth. She knew this was going to bite her in the ass the next day, but whatever, she was too tired to pretend she didn't care about him anymore, and besides, she was at home. Jackie wasn't supposed to have her guard up when she was alone.

Jackie closed her eyes and clutched Seth close to her chest.

God, she was such in big trouble.


End file.
